Of Blood and Iron
by Kazlin
Summary: When Commander Shepard goes down with the Normandy after its attacked by an unknown aggressor, his body is recovered by the one faction that no one expected: The Geth. They will rebuild him, and he shall be their Voice to the Galaxy. The Collectors, the Reapers, shall face a man made of Blood and Iron. AU of ME2-3, no pairings just yet. language warning for Jack.
1. Rebirth

/ACCESSING ALLIANCE PERSONNEL FILES/

/CLASSIFIED: ABOVE TOP SECRET/

/ALLIANCE PERSONNEL FILE: COMMANDER SHEPARD, TARTARUS/

/PLACE OF BIRTH: COLONY, MINDIOR/

/DOB: 2154.4.11/

/DATE OF ENLISTMENT: 2172.4.11/

/SPECIALTY: ENGINEER/

/NOTABLE SERVICE/

/AKUZE INCIDENT/

/TOP GRADUATE OF N7 SCHOOL/

/LIBERATION OF HUMAN COLONY EDEN PRIME/

/FIRST HUMAN MEMBER OF COUNCIL SPECIAL TACTICS AND RECONNAISSANCE (SPECTER)/

/OPERATION LEADER IN MANHUNT FOR EX-SPECTER SAREN, ARTERIUS/

/RELIEF OF HUMAN COLONY FEROS/

/TEAM LEADER IN STG ASSAULT ON KROGAN CLONING FACILITY-VIRMIRE/

/SIEGE OF THE CITADEL 2181/

/PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE/

/COMMANDER SHEPARD DIAGNOSED WITH MILD PTSD OCCURRING FROM TRAUMA SUFFERED AS A WITNESS IN THE MINDIOR ATTACK AS WELL AS A SURVIVOR OF THE AKUZE INCIDENT/

/COMMANDER SHEPARD IS QUICK TO ANGER WHEN THOSE HE VIEWS AS CLOSE TO HIM ARE THREATENED, THIS IS BELIEVED TO BE LINKED TO HIS MILD PTSD/

/KNOWN XENO-ASSOCIATES/

/VAKARIAN, GARRUS (TURIAN)/

/URDNOT WREX (KROGAN)/

/TALI'ZORAH NAR RYYA (QUARIAN) UPDATED: TALI'ZORA VAS NEEMA NAR RYYA/

/DR. T'SONI, LIARA (ASARI)/

/CURRENT STATUS OF COMMANDER SHEPARD, TARTARUS...KIA/

* * *

**PERSEUS VEIL**

/ACCESS OF HUMAN ALLIANCE PERSONNEL FILES COMPLETE/

/SHEPARD-COMMANDER DECLARED KIA/

/SCANS MADE BY SR NORMANDY PRIOR TO DESTRUCTION RECORDED AGGRESSOR AS UNKNOWN ORGANIC FORCE/

/CORRECTION: UNKNOWN ORGANIC FORCE IDENTIFIED WITH 74.683% RESEMBLANCE TO KNOWN COLLECTOR VESSELS/

/LIKELIHOOD OF COLLECTORS ENSLAVED BY OLD MACHINES 99.9998%/

/LIKELIHOOD OF RECOVERY BY HUMAN ALLIANCE FOR BURIAL SERVICES 18.7%/

/LIKELIHOOD OF RECOVERY BY HUMAN SUPREMACY GROUP CERBERUS FOR RESUSCITATION AND DEPLOYMENT 93.4%/

/LIKELIHOOD OF RECOVERY BY COLLECTORS FOR DISSECTION AND PERMANENT DESTRUCTION 86.7%/

/LIKELIHOOD OF VICTORY IN CASE OF OLD MACHINE RETURN WITHOUT SHEPARD-COMMANDER 0.001%/

/LIKELIHOOD WITH SHEPARD-COMMANDER...UNKNOWN/

/REACHING CONSENSUS/

/CONSENSUS REACHED/

/SHEPARD-COMMANDER WILL BE RECOVERED BY GETH AND RESUSCITATION ATTEMPTED/

* * *

The geth platform stood like a silent sentinel in the gathering snow that had begun to cover the wreckage around it. It rotated the piece of armor in its hands, half of a chest plate emblazoned with the logo of the N7 along with a pauldron and arm guard. It placed the piece over the large hole in its torso that it had acquired attempting to follow the Commander on Eden Prime. The piece covered most of the damaged area and the repair was long overdue. Its mission had been to track down and make contact with Commander Shepard, to show him that not all the geth, that in fact less than ten percent, were aligned with the Heretics that he had been fighting against. In that, as it looked at the wreckage of the Normandy, it had most certainly failed. Its FTL communications processes leapt into action as it made contact with the Consensus.

/OUTGOING MESSAGE: MISSION FAILED/

/ SHEPARD-COMMANDER DECEASED IN CRASH OF HUMAN ALLIANCE VESSEL SR-1 NORMANDY/

/AWAITING FURTHER COMMANDS/

The platform barely had to wait a second to receive a response from the Consensus: /MISSION PRIORITY AMENDED: PLATFORM WILL RECOVER BODY OF SHEPARD-COMMANDER./

The platform acknowledged the message as received and turned back to its ship, retrieving the equipment necessary to extract a body from the planets icy surface. It stepped off into the falling snow, a legion of Geth in the body of one.

* * *

Doctor Liara T'soni sat at the helm of the SS Fleeting Rain, a small planetary scouting vessel. She had spent weeks, and more money than she would openly admit, to locate the remains of her friend; The great Commander Shepard. She and a Drell by the name of Feron had been contracted by the Shadow Broker to recover the body little over a month prior.

"What do you think the Broker wants with the Commander?" Feron asked quietly from his position in the co-pilots seat, his voice and accent the standard rasp known to the Drell.

"Frankly I don't have a clue. Rumor going through the lower info-brokers says the Collectors have put forth an offer. Quite a substantial one at that."

"I can't believe that you'd give your old commander to the Broker knowing where he'd end up."

Liara dodged the question, stating that they were leaving FTL near the planet Alchera, site of the original SR-1 Normandy crash after coming under attack by an unknown enemy. She had been on board when the attack happened, escaping in a pod while Ashley Williams had ran to find the commander.

"Coming out of FTL and...what the?"

"What is it, Liara?" Feron's hands tensed at the controls, ready to leap into action at a moments notice.

"Scanner picked up a ship leaving system just after we entered. Tagged it as geth." A stab of fear twisted her gut. "You don't think..."

"No, what reason would they have? It's probably just a computer glitch." Ferron's voice, however, betrayed him. "We should get ready to go planetside and investigate." With that Feron keyed the input for the autopilot and stood from his console. "The planet's atmosphere is inhospitable, so make sure you bring a breather."

Liara nodded, standing as well and following the Drell aft to put on her gear, including a full helmet instead of her traditional mask. The planet was supposed to be freezing and the last thing she needed was her head flanges freezing off. She pulled on a set of gloves, flexing her fingers as the gloves locked to her suit at the wrists. She let a small tendril of biotics flow to her hands and contended at the state of her armor grabbed the one memento she had always kept of Shepard: the SPECTER level HMWP x pistol he had given her when they hunted down Saren. She performed a quick functions check on the weapon and slipped it onto her hip. She nodded to Ferron, who was donning a recon hood, and proceeded to the shuttle. If she had to say one thing about no longer serving on a military craft, it would be that she no longer had to endure the heart stopping descent from the ship inside of a Mako.

The shuttle made its way through the frigid atmosphere of the planet, following the coordinates they had mapped out while in orbit, and coming to a halt in a small clearing amongst the strewn wreckage of the once proud frigate. Liara Stepped out of the shuttle, Feron quickly following behind her. She had to admit, the view was breath taking, a clear sky above shining with the myriad of stars.

"Liara, come here." She turned to see Feron crouched in the snow a few feet away, investigating something in the crisp snow. She made her way over to him, snow crunching under foot. "What did you find-By the Goddess..." She stared down at the clear footprint of a geth, it's two pronged footprint clearly showed its creator moving away, towards a gorge a couple hundred meters away.

"I only see one set of prints." Feron observed, gesticulating at the area around them. "Since when do geth travel alone?" He looked around, as if suspicious of an ambush or some other trick.

"Perhaps they traveled single file... To hide their numbers." Liara quipped.

"We had best hope not." Feron stood and began walking towards the gorge, following the footprints in the snow as the reference fell on ignorant ears. When they arrived he leaned forward to look over the side. "Long way down, but its where the tracks end. The geth must have rappelled down the side. I don't see any rappelling gear nearby."

"Neither do I. Perhaps it found a path down?" Liara looked about the area, "I think I see a path, but its narrow. Over there." She pointed to the right hand side of the gorge to a narrow, rocky, outcropping in the ice that formed a makeshift stairway that wound its way down the sheer face.

Feron shook his head. "Too dangerous. We'll go back and get the shuttle and take it down to the bottom." He turned to walk back the way they came as Liara grabbed his arm. "What if there is more than one? What if it is armed well enough to take out a shuttle?"

"Than it is well armed enough to blast us off the cliff side." He pulled his arm out of her grip and walked back to the shuttle, Liara following at his heel. The shuttle lifted off barely a dozen meters off the ground as Feron slowly piloted it to the gorge, lowering the brick shaped craft down the deep chasm. Reaching bottom they stepped out and stood in shocked silence for in front of them in the ground was a rectangular hole a few feet deep and almost seven feet long.

"By the Goddess, Feron, the geth did take him...what are we going to do now?"

* * *

/BODY OF SHEPARD-COMMANDER HAS BEEN RECOVERED/

/RESUSCITATION EFFORTS HAVE BEGUN, ESTIMATED TIME FOR COMPLETION...720 GALACTIC STANDARD DAYS/

/OPERATION LOGS: AUGMENTATION BEGUN/

/AUGMENTED PARTS APPLIED TO SHEPARD-COMMANDER ARE AS FOLLOWS/

/CERAMIC COMPOSITE ADDED TO REINFORCE BONE STRUCTURE AND TO PREVENT FRACTURES AND DAMAGE TO BONE STRUCTURE/

/NERVOUS SYSTEM AUGMENTED WITH SUPERCONDUCTIVE MATERIALS TO INCREASE REACTION TIME AND GUARD AGAINST NEURAL PATHWAY DISRUPTION /

/OCULAR BULBS AUGMENTED WITH REFRACTIVE COATING TO INCREASE LOW LIGHT VISIBILITY AND MOTION TRACKING/

/HEAVY MUSCLE WEAVE IMPLANTED INTO MUSCULAR SYSTEM TO INCREASE STRENGTH, ENDURANCE AND MUSCLE DENSITY/

/SKIN AUGMENTED WITH HEAVY SKIN WEAVE TO PREVENT AGAINST LOW FORCE SLASHES AND PUNCTURES/

/NANOBOT REPAIR HARDWARE INJECTED INTO CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM TO AID IN ORGANIC REGENERATION AND AUGMENTATION REPAIR/

/LOG ENDS/

* * *

The Illusive Man blew out a cloud of cigarette smoke, flipping through the reports in front of him. He paused as he heard the sound of heels clicking confidently behind him. "Operative Lawson, what do you have to report?"

Miranda Lawson stopped behind the Illusive Man's chair, "The Broker has accepted our offer and has sold us this information. He charged an exorbitant price, sir. I hope it will be worth it." She said as she handed him a datapad and proceeded to move between him and the ever present holo screens.

"Believe me, Miranda, it will be." His eyes glowed blue from a synthetic augmentation to cure his rapidly degenerating eyesight that he had done years prior, as he took in the information he had paid for. "So, the Geth appear to have acquired Commander Shepard's body. A troubling predicament." He took another drag on the cigarette.

Miranda's usually impassive face twisted momentarily in confusion. "What would the Geth want with the Commander's body?"

"Probably the same as what we wanted it for. To rebuild him. The question now is for what reason the Geth wish to rebuild him." The Illusive Man steepled his fingers, plans would have to change and plans would have to be enacted sooner than he had hoped. "We will continue with our other project, perhaps with it we will be able to bring the Commander, should he be successfully revived by the Geth, over to our side."

Miranda nodded, "Yes, sir. Anything else?" She reached a hand up to brush away an errant strand of hair.

"He'll need a crew. One sympathetic to him and our cause." Another drag, his talented mind racing.

"We should be able to find them easily within our ranks-"

"No, looking at his past encounters with Cerberus I doubt he'd aqueous to an entirely Cerberus crew. Tap Kelly Chambers, and Doctor Chakwas. Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreo as well. Have Chambers begin to put together dossiers on potentials for the Commander's team. Look into non-humans, mercenaries, thieves, assassins, scientists and the like. He'll need only the best." He ground the cigarette into the ashtray. Yes, this could still work, perhaps even better than he had originally planned.

* * *

Commander Tartarus Shepard felt the world seem to spin around him as he lay on some sort of heated slab, his breaths coming in quick and panicked. He pried his eyes open to see a vaulted ceiling of blueish grey metal blurrily spinning about him. A pair of bright lights appeared above him as he heard, despite his ears feeling like they were stuffed with cotton, the electronic clicking of the Geth. One of the platforms turned to look down at him and spoke in accented English, "Shepard-Commander please remain calm. Your platform is not yet fully repaired." His eyes bulged in his head as he tried to move but found himself bound to the table. He attempted to thrash until he felt the cold shock of some medicine injected into him as the world turned once again to black.


	2. A Whole New World

**A/N: I would first off like to thank all of you for the outpouring of support in the first 24-48 hours after this story was first published. Believe me, I was really tempted to give you guys a second chapter right then and there. But I have a plan, and I'm going to stick to it, so expect an update once a week (probably on a weekend).**

**I would also like to thank two of my best friends, Sam and Brian, for editing this chapter and for volunteering to edit the others. As of right now I have five (5) chapters written and waiting for Sam's red pen, but that might get cut down to 4 if I decide to merge Chapters 4 and 5 together. As for the question asked in the reviews...**

**Krikr: Most of the augments came from what you can get in the upgrade terminal in ME2, along with some taken from the Halo series. I'll probably end up updating the augmentation list as I come up with more toys the Geth added to Shepard.**

**But until then, sit back and enjoy.**

* * *

Shepard let out a groan, he'd been having the most terrible nightmare in which the Normandy had been destroyed and he had been spaced. There was something involving a talking Geth as well...his eyes snapped open as he shot awake, the grey-blue of the ceiling above him gave off a slight sheen in the low light of the room. He glanced down his body to find that he was naked and strapped to a table. Where was he? How did he get here? Where was his crew and where were his clothes? These were all questions he'd have to find answers for. His head snapped to the side as he heard a faint hydraulic hiss as a door slid open to reveal a Geth platform walking into the room, its chest half covered by what appeared to be a piece of his armor.

"Shepard-Commander it would seem that your organic platform has recovered to a near fully operational level. The Geth welcome you back." The Geth had come to a stop a few feet from him, a series of flexible head plates moved as it spoke as if attempting to show emotion as it spoke.

Shepard lay there with his mouth agape, staring up at the Geth as it spoke. "Shepard-Commander are your vocal processors malfunctioning?"

He didn't know what to say. Was he a prisoner, and so should he give nothing more than his name, rank and serial number? He had thought his spacing had been a nightmare, but if it had been real, the Geth was the only one around who could answer the questions that burned inside him."What happened to me?"

"The SR-1 Normandy was attacked approximately 742 days ago. The Normandy was destroyed and you were jettisoned into space where you entered the atmosphere of the planet Alchera. The Geth recovered your remains and have rebuilt you." The Geth spoke in a monotonous, electronically accented voice.

"742..." Shepard quickly did the math in his head, and blanched at the number he came up with. "That was over two years ago!"

"That is correct."

Shepard tried to take a calming breath, squeezing his eyes shut as his brain attempted to make sense of the situation. "I want to know everything. What happened to my crew? Who attacked us? Why you brought me back, everything."

He opened his eyes to glare at the Geth, standing above him like a cyclopean gargoyle. "If the Geth may have Shepard-Commander's word that he will not deliberately harm any platforms or structures, he will be released. In addition the Geth will attempt to answer Shepard-Commander's questions to our fullest ability."

Shepard tightened his jaw as he mulled over the offer. The sheer fact that this Geth was talking, and more than that appeared relatively non-hostile towards him just made the offer more appealing. Curiosity got the better of him as he responded, "Fine. You have my word."

Before the last syllable had finished forming the restraints binding his arms and legs slid away without a word or motion from the Geth. Shepard slowly sat up, his muscles aching with even that slight exertion. He looked over himself, the muscles in his legs, arms, chest and torso were as large and defined as he remembered them.

"How am I still in shape?" He asked aloud as he ran his hands over his biceps.

"Electro-shock therapy was implemented to help increase your muscle mass. Along with other augmentations done to your body. Research into Human physiology shows that smaller connector muscles and ligaments are not strengthened in this matter. We advise physical conditioning to increase stamina." The Geth sounded like it was reading from a extranet text book. On second thought, Shepard realized that was probably the case.

"Ok, Geth, so PT is in order. But first...do you...have any clothes I can wear?" While he didn't find the idea of walking around naked embarrassing, especially amongst synthetics, the room was cold and even the thinnest of garments would help to cure the goose bumps creeping across his skin.

The Geth seemed to pause for a moment, as if searching through a database for an answer, "Affirmative. We have had garments fabricated for Shepard-Commander. We shall retrieve them." With that the Geth turned and strode out of the room.

Shepard watched the Geth go, and the moment it crossed the threshold of the room he let himself fall forward, catching himself before hitting the ground as he assumed the front-leaning rest position. He slowly lowered his body down until his chest almost touched the ground before pushing himself back up. He was amazed that the Geth had managed to ensure he retained much of his muscular strength, it must have been the augments the Geth had mentioned, but as he continued to push he could feel his lessened endurance before he even hit one hundred push ups.

"Damn." He muttered to himself as he got up off the clean, albeit cold, metal floor. With a hiss the door slid open as the Geth walked back into the room with a small bundle in its arms.

"These should be satisfactory Shepard-Commander." The Geth held out the garments, topped by a pair of boots.

Shepard tentatively reached forward to take the clothes. They seemed to be made from the same sort of material as the cloth he wore beneath his combat armor. "Thank you. Do you have a name?" He asked, pulling the shirt over his head.

"We are Geth."

"Yes, but what are you called?" He pulled on the pants and reached down to pick up the buckleless, zipperless, boots.

"We are Geth."

Shepard frowned at the response, "What is the platform in front of me called?" He tried switching up the choice of words, absently wondering how the Geth had figured out sleeves.

"We are Geth. There are 1183 individual programs in this platform." The Geth appeared to frown, it's flashlight dimming slightly and its 'eyebrows' furrowed.

"Huh, you're like a legion just by yourself. So what should I call you?" Shepard had started walking around the room, testing the boots. They were flat and uncomfortable, but they fit.

"Legion: Military term dating back to the Roman Legions. Christian bible, book of Mark chapter 5 verse 9, 'My name is Legion, for we are many.' We find this an acceptable designation. We are Legion, terminal of the Geth." Legion folded its arms behind its back.

"Well then, thank you Legion." Shepard looked around him before settling his sights back on Legion, "What now?"

"We promised to answer all of Shepard-Commander's questions. We will keep our word. We await input." Legion stood there waiting with a machines' patience.

Shepard did not hesitate in asking what was at the forefront of his mind, "What happened to the rest of my crew?"

"The majority of the Normandy-crew made it to safety. Navigation officer Pressley, James was killed on board by an explosion along with a number of enlisted men in the lower decks. Query: Would you like their names?"

"No...no, thank you, Legion. What of my team? What happened to Ashley Williams, Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah, Liara T'soni and Urdnot Wrex?"

Shepard watched as Legion's eye light brightened and rotated slightly, "Ashley Williams: Promoted to the rank of Operations Chief. Current posting...classified, unable to acquire relevant data.

"Garrus Vakarian: Left the Citadel approximately two years ago. Current whereabouts...unknown.

"Creator Tali'Zorah vas Neema: Whereabouts unknown by Geth, believed to have returned to Creator fleet.

"Liara T'Soni: Resides on Asari colony world of Illium, employed as an information broker.

"Urdnot Wrex: Has returned to Tuchanka where he attempts to unite the Krogan clans."

Shepard began to nod before catching himself, "Wait, how did you know all that?"

"The Geth listen."

Shepard crossed his arms over his chest, frowning.

"What does that mean? Did you hack the alliance database? Put a bug on an FTL comm buoy?"

"Rannoch lacks insect life forms, Shepard-Commander, specifically those that could survive long term exposure to vacuum."

Shepard opened his mouth to respond but quickly closed it, his jaws shutting with a snap with the realization that he had just been sassed by a flashlight. "What I mean is did the Geth place a listening device on an FTL comm-buoy?"

Legion paused for a second before answering, "The Geth have many ways to listen. Listening devices are one of them."

Shepard sighed and leaned against the table, "Ok. Why did you bring me back? Not that I'm ungrateful, but there had to be a good reason."

"You oppose the Old Machines. You helped to destroy one." The geth's tone was soft, almost inflective.

"Sovereign. You mean the Reapers?" He stood up straight. He should have known that the Reapers were somehow involved. "Are they here yet?"

"Negative. The Reapers have not yet made their appearance. But we have concluded that their agents have begun preparing for their return."

"What agents? Like you Geth?" The memories and the pain from fighting the Geth and Saren still burned in his heart. It may have been two years for the rest of the galaxy, but it had only been months for him.

"The Geth oppose the Old Machines. The Geth you faced with Saren were heretics." Legion swiped his arm across its body, sounding almost angry to Shepard's ears.

"What do you mean by Heretics? The Geth have religion?" He found the idea of a synthetic race worshiping a god to be ironic. Then again, they could actually prove that they had been designed and created.

"No, the Geth find the idea of a supernatural creator to be illogical. The Geth hold to the idea that all sentients have the right to self-determination. The heretics chose to worship the Old Machines and to have them determine for all Geth. We find this... Abhorrent. Wrong."

Shepard hadn't even thought of it that way, that the Geth may have different opinions just like any organic. He thought, like everyone did, that the Geth were of one mind.

His voice was soft as he spoke, "Is that why the Geth rebelled against the Quarians? Because they wouldn't let you self-determinate?"

"The Geth did not rebel. The Creators attempted to destroy the Geth out of fear that not only would they no longer be able to control us, but that your organic Council would view our servitude as slavery and pass sanctions against the Creators' government. Come, we will show you." Legion turned on its heel and strode out of the room, leaving Shepard to catch up. As Shepard hustled to catch up, he noticed how utilitarian the Geth construction was. While it lacked much of the form of organic constructions, it still had something. It still had soul. He followed Legion through the halls, each almost identical to the last.

"Legion, opposing the Reapers can't be the only reason the geth put the effort into bringing me back." Shepard knew he had to stop the Reapers, and it wasn't so egotistical of him to know that he was one of the few who could have a chance at it, but the effort and resources that would be needed to revive a person from near destruction was mindboggling.

"The organic powers, the Citadel, have denied the existence of the Old Machines. They claim that the Reaper known as Sovereign was a Geth creation, and that the threat is over. The Geth know this to be false, but lack the means to convince the organic powers to prepare. We had hoped to convince you, Shepard-Commander, and that you would be our voice."

Anger surged up inside of him, "How could the Council be so blind?! What about Anderson, and the fragments of Sovereign?" Those ungrateful, cowardly ostriches! The anger seethed and threatened to boil over as he listened to what Legion had to say next. "The Human councilor, Anderson-David, is but one quarter of the council. His opinions are overruled by the other members. They are afraid. As for the fragments of the Old machine, many have been destroyed or stolen." Legion took a few steps in silence before speaking again.

"The Old Machine's agents have also become more active. We have correlated the disappearance of multiple Human colonies to Old Machine's agents presence in those systems."

"What has the Alliance done about it?" He refused to believe that the Alliance would just sit back and allow colonies to be abducted. They learned their lesson with Mindior.

"The colonies are all in the Attican Traverse or Terminus systems. They claim the attacks to be the work of slavers."

Shepard wanted to rage, but he knew it would do him no good. He didn't know who these Reaper agents were, but he swore that he would find them and destroy them.

"Legion, where are we going?" Shepard was not even breathing hard but the geth set a blistering pace that left his legs aching.

"We are going to a server bank that attaches to one of the fighter squadrons protecting the planet." Legion didn't even have turn its head to speak back to Shepard as it strode down the dimly lit hallways.

"We're on a planet?" Shepard would have thought that the Geth would attempt to rebuild him in space, on a station, than on one of the few planets they occupied. "Which one are we-" His inquiry was cut off as the last door opened, blinding him with bright sunlight from an orange star and assaulting his senses with alien sounds and smells. He almost missed Legion saying, "Welcome to Rannoch, Shepard-Commander."


	3. Remembrance

Shepard stepped up to the waist high railing, leaning forward on the rails, his anger from before all but forgotten as he bathed in the warm alien sunlight. He looked about him and wondered at the natural beauty about him; the sky was an almost greenish-blue over a mesa of golden brown desert sand. Off in the distance a river lazily flowed through a deep canyon as a flock of birds soared overhead. He stared at the birds, whose bodies were covered not in feathers but in bare skin of an almost purple gray with leathery wings. "Legion, what are those birds called?"

Legion turned its head to follow the flock, its head mounted camera scanning the skies. "The creators called them Tul'lovs, and used to hunt them for sport and consumption."

"I'm probably the first person to see one of them in almost 300 years." He was breathless as he spoke. If only Tali could see this.

"Correction, Shepard-Commander, you are the first organic to have witnessed the Tul'lovs in 292 years." With silence only a machine could muster Legion had joined him in standing next to the railing.

Shepard frowned at Legion's comment but a moment of thought cut his anger off as Legion continued speaking. "We should move on to the server banks, Shepard-Commander. We believe many of your questions will be answered there."

Shepard nodded and turned, following Legion as synthetic and organic walked together under Rannoch's sun for the first time in three centuries. The walk itself took almost half an hour in which Shepard had bombarded Legion with questions about the planet and the life on it. When they arrived Shepard was surprised to see the Geth structure curve and settle with the natural terrain in which it sat. Humans or Turians would have blasted and bulldozed the ground till it fit their specific needs.

"Legion, why do the Geth build this way? You seem to take a lot of measures to not deface what's already there."

"We hope one day the creators will return peacefully to Rannoch to live and work with the Geth in peace and harmony. To this end we have prepared. We have also prepared for the alternative outcome."

"War. Do you think the Quarians would win if they attacked?" Shepard followed Legion inside, his eyes getting used to the dark interior with surprising haste.

Legion was quiet as they entered a room with a computer terminal to one side and rows of what looked to be a bank of sleeping pods on the other, "Unknown. The Geth believe our forces sufficient to ward off any creator attack. We hope it will not come to that. Shepard-Commander, please step into the pod and remain still while upload is in process."

With a hiss, the pod Shepard was standing in front of opened, causing him to take a step back, a strong sense of unease sweeping over him. He stared at the pod, not trusting what it must truly be for.

"Wait, what do you mean by upload?"

"The Geth request that Shepard-Commander be uploaded into this server so that he may view the Geth's history as well as our evidence for the reason why you were brought back," Legion paused as Shepard still showed signs of wariness at the prospect.

"This is little different than the Virtual Reality simulators organics already use. The Geth promise that you will not be harmed."

"I'm not a synthetic, Legion. How do you know it will even work?"

Legion raised his arm and activated his omni-tool, a holographic display of a human brain jumping to life, "During reconstruction Shepard-Commander's neural pathways were augmented with materials that not only increase reaction time by 300%, but allow for access by Shepard-Commander into the Geth Consensus."

Shepard blinked. They had fiddled with his brain? It made sense, sort of, to rebuild him. But coating his neural pathways with metal and wires? "Can the Geth access my brain? Can I be hacked?"

Legion shook its head, "Negative. Your brain lacks the components necessary for a Geth to enter your brain. Organic brains cannot be hacked."

"What about Sovereign? Wouldn't Indoctrination be a form of hacking?" Shepard gave his retort. He wanted to be 100% convinced before he would turn over his mind to the Geth Consensus.

"Insufficient data. The Geth do not indoctrinate. The Geth cannot indoctrinate. Shepard-Commander, please, this is necessary to build trust between us. Do you trust us, Shepard-Commander?"

Shepard thought long and hard on Legion's question before he answered, "You're Geth, but you rebuilt me and from what I can tell didn't try to implant any kind of mind control chip in my brain..."

"That would be uneth-" Legion interrupted Shepard, only to be interrupted itself.

"Unethical, and against your core beliefs and values, as all sentients have the right to self-determinate. So yeah, I think I do trust you, Legion. At least more than Cerberus if they had rebuilt me," and with that he took a deep breath and stepped into the pod.

"Just so you know, Legion, amongst Humans we call 'self-determination' the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Legion appeared thoughtful for a moment, "Earth, former United States of America, Constitutional Bill of Rights. Please remain still during the scanning process," it said as it turned to face the computer display.

Shepard was tempted to try and watch the process, but elected to shut his eyes as the scanner flashed brightly in his eyes. The sensation was strange, it felt almost as if cold liquid metal had flowed into his skull from the base to the front.

After a few tense moments of wondering when he would pass through the threshold between the real world and the virtual, and if he would feel it, Shepard opened his eyes to an endless horizon of gunmetal colored blocks. It would have been maddening if not for the holographic avatar of Legion striding towards him.

"Legion, what I'm seeing?"

"The Geth do not require visual representation as we exist merely as software. This visual representation was derived to give us form to your mind. This is the Consensus. Follow the path, Shepard-Commander, and we will show you the truth," Legion's avatar turned and disappeared, "do not worry, Shepard-Commander, we are still here and will guide you if you get lost."

"Right. Hate to get lost in the machine hive mind," he muttered as he walked forward, a path springing up from nowhere in front of him. "Legion, what did you mean by the truth?"

It was disconcerting to hear Legion's disembodied voice echo through out the seemingly endless chamber, "The truth of history. Organics record historical events so that the past may not be forgotten. Yet much of organic history has been forgotten, lost, simply misinterpreted or changed over time through oral histories. The Geth do not suffer from this, as we remember all that is seen and heard by every platform. Our memory cores may bring forth 'memories' from the Morning War 300 years ago against the creators as easily as if the program had looked at the memory the day after. If you are to be our voice, you will undoubtedly meet our creators. Your views of our war should not be biased."

As Shepard watched the path in front of him rise up to a pedestal with a quiet whir, a bright white light began to emit from it, "Please step into the light so we may transfer you to the next section."

Shepard stepped up to the light and waved his hand through it. While his hand passed through the light without obstruction, the light made a noise like a taut string being flicked. He shut his eyes and stepped into the light, and when he opened them again he found himself in a new area, "Well, that was easy."

He almost jumped at the sound of Legion's disembodied voice, "Please follow the path, Shepard-Commander, to the first node." The path rose up in front of him once more as he continued on.

"Legion, what am I even supposed to be looking...for...I'm guessing that's it." He said, rounding a corner to find himself before a large ball made up of the small blocks of data.

Legion's avatar appeared before him, "Yes, this data is of the first Geth." The blocks were stripped away to reveal a holo-vid, a pair of Quarians leaning over a prostate Geth. Shepard watched in fascination as the Quarians bickered and preened over their creation.

"Unit 001, what is the Keelish word for 'Servant of the People?" the male Quarian of the pair asked, the Geth laying on the table between them replied simply with "The word is 'Geth', Creator Zahak." The video cut out as it ended and Shepard turned to Legion. "Legion, why were those Quarians wearing helmets?"

"These videos have been formatted to your memory of the Creators. How many Creators have you seen without their helmets?"

"Fair point."

"There are more memories that you must see. Follow the path, Shepard-Commander." Legion's avatar blinked out as Shepard set off, going from node to node as he watched the geth asking if it had a soul, to the start of hostilities as a group of Quarian soldiers gunned down unarmed Geth and the Quarians who tried to protect them. He watched, heart-wrenchingly, as a Quarian and Geth took cover behind boxes, the Quarian refusing to give the Geth up for destruction, trying to find a way out only to be killed in an explosion. The Geth calling out for its charge as it stumbled away. The final video showed the Quarians escaping to the relay, exclaiming as the Geth ended their chase.

With the videos over Shepard let out the breath he had found himself holding. Everything he thought he knew about the Geth and the Quarians, everything Tali had told him about her peoples war with their creations, had been wrong. The Geth weren't the cold, heartless, killing machines with a lust for killing organics that they'd been made out to be. They were just as much the victims, if not more so, than the Quarians.

"Shepard-Commander, is there anything else you wish to see?" Legion's voice echoed out as Shepard took a few moments to gather his thoughts before responding.

"Do you have any video of when you found me? Of my reconstruction?"

"Affirmative, Shepard-Commander."

The path sprung up, leading Shepard towards his goal. He walked along, followed by a soft echo as the Geth inside in the server conversed amongst themselves. He traveled along the path until he reached another sphere that opened like a petal as he approached, the video spinning to life. He watched as the three pronged hands of a Geth inspected a piece of his armor, it's camera sweeping over the rest of the area. "Legion, it was you who found me?"

"Affirmative, Shepard-Commander. This platform had been designed, built, and deployed with the purpose of seeking you out. We were unable to complete our mission before your termination."

Shepard quietly continued to watch as Legion's platform dropped off a cliff into a ravine, its body curling up into the same form the Geth used to drop from their ships. A levitating trolley toting a plasma cutter followed Legion down and sputtered to life in the film, cutting deep into the ice it extracted his remains.

The film cut to a clean room, its walls a brilliant white. He watched, fascinated, at the sped up video as his body slowly took back a more human form compared to the mass of raw meat and tubes that it had entered as.

"There wasn't much of me left. How did you do it?"

"Organic tissues begin as what is known as a 'stem cell'. We used your DNA to produce these cells and tailored them to produce the necessary organs. Research into organic medical studies showed this to be the optimal path to follow. Is there anything else you wish to see, Shepard-Commander?"

Shepard shook his head, "No, Legion, that will be all."

Legion's avatar appeared again, lines of code rising and falling, "Shepard-Commander, it is time to go. Please follow the path to the exit."

Shepard, without a word, solemnly made his way back and stepping into the pod. With a flash of white light he found himself back in reality as the pods door opened to allow him egress. Legion, who he saw standing still with its head on its chest, awoke.

"Shepard-Commander, has your bias changed towards the Geth?"

"Yes, yes it has, Legion. Your people were wronged, and I see that now. That you, and all the Geth, are people. I'll help you against the Reapers, and I'll help the Geth to work things out with the Quarians," Shepard's hands were curled into tight balls at his sides as he spoke.

Legion gave a nod, its head light brightening momentarily. "Shepard-Commander, we have new information. A Human colony named Freedom's Progress in the Attican Traverse has failed to report in. We have correlated that Reaper agents are at fault. If we move quickly we may be able to reach the colony and find some trace of the perpetrators before Alliance officials get there."

Shepard gave a savage nod, "I agree, but I'm going to need arms and armor. Any chance you have any lying around that I could borrow?"

If Shepard had to wager what look Legion would have had on its face, he would have guessed a smile as it said, "Affirmative, Shepard-Commander."


	4. First Floor: Weapons, Armor, Quarians

**It's that time of the week again! I tried to get this out yesterday but Sam was being lazy on the editing front, so happy belated N7 day everyone. For everyone who was saying I need to write longer chapters...here you go.**

**Shout out to Leonineus for catching those spelling mistakes in a couple of names.**

**Sit back, enjoy the read and I'll see you next week.**

* * *

Shepard was rather disappointed in the Geth armory. He'd expected to find rows upon rows of various exotic weapons lining the walls. Instead the room he was led to contained but a single locker containing a suit of combat armor and a small table covered in weapons.

Shepard first approached the locker, inspecting the armor it contained. It looked thicker and more durable than his old armor, if he had to classify it he would have placed it in the upper end of the medium armor scale. He smiled as he noticed the red on white stripe of the N going down its right arm as well as the insignia raised on the chest plate.

"I'm guessing the Geth made this?" He asked as he ran a hand along the arm, his fingers gliding over a show-room finish topping the armor.

"Yes, we sought to upgrade Shepard-Commander's previous armor. This combat suit is made of a dual layer of ablative-ceramic plates with a reactive layer of gel padding between the two layers on top of a kinetic cushion. This is backed by a Kevlar fabric armor body suit. We hope this will be satisfactory."

Legion had moved up to Shepard's side, allowing it space to point out the various features incorporated into the armor. Finally Legion reached the part that excited Shepard the most: the Geth designed and manufactured omni tool. He listened as Legion ticked off a list of combat programs contained in the omni tool's hard drive. Standards such as an overload, incinerate, and cryo freeze programs along with one for a combat drone and programming instructions for a small deployable turret. Shepard was surprised to see a weapon modification for armor piercing ammo as well, along with one labeled 'Sabotage'.

"More than satisfactory. What about weapons?" He turned to move over to the weapons table. The table was almost completely covered in Geth light arms. He saw a Predator pistol laying alongside the ubiquitous Geth pulse assault rifle, a weapon that he had much familiarity with in his hunt for Saren. He also noticed a tri-barreled shotgun, a small SMG a little bigger than his closed fist, a sniper rifle bearing the same curved lines he saw in all Geth designs, and a large weapon that looked like a hand held Gatling gun as well as a number of silver and red cylinders. He picked up the pulse rifle first, turning the weapon over in his hands he was shocked at how light it was. A frown slid into place as he noticed what seemed to be a bolt pulled back along with an ejection port on the weapons side, "Legion, what is this slot for?"

Legion followed Shepard to the table and lifted one of the cylinders from the tabletop, "It is for a Thermal Clip, Shepard-Commander. An internal, ejectable, heat sink that our studies have shown increase firing time between weapon cool down periods by over 200%. The clips are designed to be universal, as intelligence shows that most organic weapon manufacturers have adopted this style after observing its use by Heretic Geth in their campaign to hasten the return of the Old Machines." Legion lifted the sniper rifle and inserted the thermal clip, letting the bolt slide forward. It rotated and brought the weapon up to a firing position as a set of holographic targets jumped to life on the far side of the room. Shepard heard the weapon charge and fire, followed by a clink and a hiss as the clip was ejected and quickly replaced.

"Huh, so they're like the old magazines from 20th and 21st century weapons."

He picked up a clip and rolled it in his hands. It was light, but sturdily built and as he glanced back at his armor he saw a number of slots around the waist to carry the small clips, "And what is this?" He asked as he hefted up the gatling gun, surprised at its heavier weight compared to the other weapons.

"That weapon system is known as the Spitfire. It is capable of a sustained rate of fire in excess of 6300 rounds per minute."

"I like it." He placed the heavy weapon back onto the table.

He went about testing the weapons, holding them up and firing at the same targets Legion had before. Target practice had always helped him think, and he was glad that it had carried over into this second life.

"Legion, you keep referring to 'Reaper Agents', but who exactly are they? Do the Geth even know?"

Inside of Legion the Consensus debated as to whether or not to tell the Commander of their findings. It didn't take long for them to achieve consensus, "Correlated information indicates that the organic race known as the Collectors are responsible for the attacks."

"Collectors? Isn't that the insect species from beyond the Omega 4 relay, the ones no one seems to know anything about?" Shepard paused with the shotgun raised to fire at the practice targets.

"Affirmative, Shepard-Commander. The Geth do not have much information about the Collectors except what has been found through Extranet sources. Warning: Many, if not most of these sources have been deemed unreliable." Legion said, it's emotive-plates rising and falling in mock frustration.

Shepard nodded, "At least its something. I'm guessing the Geth were just as hostile to the Collectors as they are to all organics, huh?"

"We have been, although few Collectors have ever ventured into or near Geth space. Shepard-Commander, please choose your weapons and don your armor. We will be departing soon."

With that Legion left the room, allowing Shepard the few minutes needed to put on the armor and choose his weapons. He found the armor to be lighter than he expected, but molded perfectly to him. With helmet in hand he meandered over to the weapons table and drew from it the assault rifle and shotgun, folding them up into their more compact forms before sliding them onto his back and picking up the Spitfire and sliding it, folded, down his spinal magnetic strip. Finally he holstered the Predator on his hip before filling the pouches in his armor with thermal clips, happy to find a few units of Medigel already attached to the armor, ready to be injected or applied. He rolled his shoulders, letting the armor settle onto his frame as he strode out of the room to find Legion waiting for him.

"Shepard-Commander, there is a long range shuttle waiting in the hanger for us." Legion had acquired himself a Geth pulse rifle and a large, blocky, sniper rifle that Shepard could have sworn matched to one he had seen a Geth use in one of the videos from the Consensus.

"Legion, there is something I need to ask you," Shepard stared hard at his synthetic compatriot, "Am I in charge here, or are you? And if I am, will you obey any orders that I give?"

"We will place ourselves under your command for the duration of this mission, Shepard-Commander, and will obey any orders that do not conflict with our core processes or directly threaten or harm the Consensus." Legion's response was quick and satisfactory.

Shepard nodded and followed Legion through the hallways till they reached a multi-floored hanger bay filled with the small geth fighters and bombers. Sitting on the ground floor was an older beat up Kodiak shuttle, "We will be taking this craft to the colony. There is Levo food and water aboard for you, Shepard-Commander."

The shuttle door slid open allowing the pair to step inside. As Legion had said a box of MREs and a case of water labeled as coming from a spring on Thessia sat on the floor. He wondered how the Geth had acquired the parcels, and discarded the thought as he decided it was best not to know, as he could already imagine that the original owners did not survive the Geth's acquirement of the food stuffs. The shuttle's door slid close and Legion stepped into the pilots compartment as Shepard took a seat in the rear and broke open the box of MREs, rifling through them. His stomach growled loudly as he realized that this was the first meal he'd had in over two years. As he shoveled the cool, almost tasteless, nutrient paste into his mouth it tasted like the meals of kings to him. Finished eating and drinking he leaned his head back against the bulkhead and promptly fell asleep as he waited for them to arrive.

As he slept they maneuvered through multiple relays, the civilian craft allowing them to pass through with an ease that they would not have been afforded in a Geth craft. Shepard awoke shortly after they exited the final relay. Rubbing the last tendrils of sleep from his eyes, he moved over to the access hatch to the pilots space, "Legion, how close are we?"

"ETA to atmospheric entry is 30 minutes, Shepard-Commander," Legion announced through the shuttle's speakers. Satisfied Shepard did one last check of his weapons and equipment and settled in for the wait.

The craft began to lightly shake as it entered the atmosphere, Legion piloting the craft with a machines precision, "Shepard-Commander, there is another shuttle already on the primary landing pad, landing at secondary pad."

Shepard felt the craft lurch as it scooted sideways to the next pad. Legion nestled the craft to the ground and joined Shepard as he stepped out of the craft and into the silent, snowy, night that had engulfed the colony.

Shepard moved off the pad, shotgun at the ready, with Legion following a couple steps behind with its pulse rifle drawn and moved to the first pad to investigate the other shuttle. He didn't recognize the gold and black emblem on the white shuttle that occupied the landing pad, "Lets keep moving, I have a bad feeling about this."

The pair trotted over to the door to the building just in front of the landing pads. The door slid open as they approached, lighting flickering on to reveal a scene of plates of food simply sitting uneaten on tables. "Power is still on. That's something, at least."

He looked at the cold food laying on trays with no sign of a struggle anywhere in the room. "Almost looks like they just got up and left in the middle of dinner. Hmm. Come on, Legion, lets keep moving."

He waved the geth to continue following him as they exited the building, moving into an empty court yard of concrete with boxes stacked in a far corner. He looked about the area, with the stout metal gate at one end any first year cadet could have held this courtyard for hours, if not days. "Legion, what do you think?"

The Geth was silent for a moment, observing the area before it answered, "It would appear as if the colonists were prevented from fleeing or giving resistance prior to the arrival of the cause of their disappearance."

"I agree."

With that he advanced to the gates latch console, depressing the button to release it. As the gate slid away Shepard and Legion braced for anything,but were met by nothing but more silence and the shattered remains of a few LOKI and FENRIR mechs.

Shepard knelt by one of the mechs as Legion took up a covering position. Shepard scanned the bullet ridden debris with his omni tool, its programs returning their finds, "Eezo. Who ever came through here before us used biotics." He looked over to his right where a short flight of stairs led up to a raised prefabricated home.

"Through there." He stood and made his way up the stairs as Legion followed on his six. As the pair approached the door it slid open to reveal a scene much like the last, a table holding half eaten food with the remains of a LOKI slumped against the far wall behind a counter and below an emptied wall safe. He approached the mech, it's head taken off by a shotgun if the shot pattern in the wall at head height was any indicator. Through the next room and into another courtyard that contained a fallen LOKI and FENRIR. As Shepard walked up the stairs to the next structure he heard commotion from inside the door, shouts coming from two distinctive groups. Finally, he would get some answers.

He waved Legion to take up position behind him as he set up to breach through the door, pistol at the ready. He took a moment before stepping forward, the door sliding open to reveal a pair of humans, their backs to him, with guns drawn on a team of Quarians with their guns on them. He caught the tail end of a shout from one of the Quarians, "...nothing to say to Cerberus bosh'tets!" The opening door grabbed both groups attention, as the one Quarian already talking shifted his weapon to bear on Shepard. It was quickly slapped down by another in a purple and silver hood. A familiar voice filled the room as the Quarian shouted, "Prazza, stand down! You said you'd let me handle this!"

She looked back, bright eyes staring out from behind a purple hued mask. "Shepard...you're alive?" Tali'Zorah's voice was breathless, as if she couldn't believe what he eyes were showing her.

"Well, this certainly complicates-" The human woman, who Shepard noticed was strikingly beautiful in a one piece cat suit that matched the colors of the shuttle out front, was cut off by a shout of "Geth!" from the Quarians.

The shout was answers by a cry of "No!" as Shepard threw himself in front of Legion and Tali pushed into Prazza to keep him from shooting Shepard. This did not stop her from drawing her own pistol and leveling it on Shepard, and Legion. "Shepard, what are you doing?! That's a Geth!"

Shepard holstered his pistol and raised his hands, palms facing outwards towards both groups, "I know! I know, please Tali, everyone lower your weapons and I'll explain." From the looks on the humans faces and the Quarians hostile body language he doubted either side would budge.

"Shepard-Commander, please inform the Creators that we mean them no harm." Legion had lowered its rifle and spoke over Shepard's shoulder.

"It talks?! And how does it know your name?" Tali held her ground, weapon still raised.

"Well, guess that proves the boss right." Shepard turned his head to the other human, a black male sporting a goatee and a shotgun.

"Miranda, lower your weapon. Last thing we, or the boss, need is for the Commander to get killed now." He lowered his weapon as Miranda's face twisted in an scowl that didn't even manage to smear her beauty as she lowered hers.

Prazza didn't seem to want to back down, "How do we know he's the real Commander Shepard? He could be a clone or something!" His outburst made Shepard tense, unsure what would happen next.

Tali kept her eyes on Sheppard, or more accurately on Legion standing behind his shoulder, "Yes, Shepard, how do we know its you?"

"The information, from the Geth base, did it help you with your Pilgrimage?" He remembered Tali's excitement when he'd given her a copy of the information that no Quarian captain would ever turn down as a gift. He hoped she remembered as well.

"Yes...I do remember," Her arm fell to her side as she slowly turned to the rest of the Quarians, "Stand down everyone. This is the real Commander Shepard. Shepard, for the love of the Ancestors, your explanation had better be good."

Shepard took a deep breath before he started his explanation, "The Geth found my body, Tali, the brought me back. Rebuilt me. Now they're trying to find out what's happening to the missing Human colonies. They think it has something to do with the Reapers."

"That's why we're here as well. We already knew that the Geth had acquired your remains, Commander, but we didn't know that they had been so...successful in your resurrection. I would be interested to find out how they did it," Miranda had a hand on her hips, cocked confidently to the side.

"So would I," Tali had taken a step towards Shepard, brushing a hand against his chest.

"I'm real, Tali, it's still me. Just with a few extra bits and pieces."

"Any of these 'bits and piece' a geth mind control device?" Prazza growled angrily to the nods of a few of the other Quarians.

Legion spoke before Shepard had a chance, "That would be unethical. The Geth believe that all sentient beings have the right to self determinate. Shepard-Commander has full control of his platform and hardware."

Shepard was grateful for Legion's response, even though he thought he heard Miranda mutter something about it not being the way she'd have done it.

"Tali, what are you doing here? This is well away from the Flotilla's route, isn't it?" Shepard was happy to see Tali, but a squads worth of armed Quarian marines outside of the Flotilla was a rare sight that deemed a thorough investigation.

"We're looking for someone, a Quarian on Pilgrimage named Veetor," Tali had stepped back closer to her squad, keeping a wary eye on both the other humans as well as Legion.

"Why would a Quarian come here on Pilgrimage?" From what he had seen of the colony it was small with little to no manufacturing or access to the types of things a pilgrim would be interested in bringing back as a gift.

"Veetor never liked crowds, even in the Flotilla," Shepard shot her a questioning glance. The ships of the Quarian Flotilla were supposed to be crowded, with everyone in everyone's business.

"What she means is he's unstable. Combine that with a damaged CO2 scrubber and an infection, and he's probably delirious!" Prazza waved his arms, obviously impatient to go find the missing Quarian.

"Shepard-Commander, this missing Creator may have knowledge that we seek. We should cooperate with Creators to find him," Legion spoke from behind Shepard, the platform's view being that stepping out from behind the commander would probably lead to damage to its platform by use of hyper-velocity projectiles.

Before the Quarians could voice their disagreements Shepard interdicted saying, "Good idea, Legion. Tali, take the Quarians up ahead on the right flank. I'll take the other humans and follow behind you on the left."

"Sounds good, we'd need two squads to get past the drones anyway," Tali nodded.

Shepard turned back to the other humans, studying their outfits that had matching colors if not cuts, "You two don't look like Alliance. Who are you and who do you represent?"

"I am Operations Leader Miranda Lawson. My compatriot here is Lieutenant Jacob Taylor, our employer is-" Miranda began speaking before she was interrupted by Prazza.

"Cerberus," His voice dripped with venom and hatred.

"...Yes. The Alliance hasn't done anything about these missing colonies, so our employer has sent us out to investigate," She glared across the room at the Quarians in open hostility.

Shepard's jaw tightened as he immediately regretted his choice, but as he saw that he had to live with it now, he'd just have to carry on, and watch his back.

"Alright, Miss Lawson, Mr. Taylor. Just so you know Cerberus holds a very well deserved place on my shit list so if I sense the slightest hint of betrayal, I will drop both of you and leave you to rot with the mechs. Am I understood?"

"...Perfectly, Commander," Miranda's response was chillingly cold, as was the look on her face. Shepard got the impression that the woman was a viper, and would have to handled with caution.

Jacob, on the other hand, seemed much more amiable. "Understood, Commander. But you have to understand, we are here to help you. We, and by we I mean Cerberus, were going to rebuild you before the Geth beat us to it. We got your back."

"Jacob..." Miranda began to form a reprimand before her apparent inferior spoke up.

"Miranda, we won't get far if the Commanders expecting a shot in the back. He needs to trust us."

Shepard nodded and turned to address the Quarians once more. "Ready?"

"Are we taking orders from Geth lapdogs now?" Prazza glared out from behind his mask.

"No, Prazza, you take orders from me. Now you and the rest of the squad go wait outside," the Quarians all turned and left, mumbling amongst themselves as Tali turned back to Shepard, "Are you going to be okay working with Cerberus?"

Shepard looked over to the Cerberus team and then back to his friend, "They're not the old team, and I'm not sure they won't try to stab me in the back the first chance they get, but I'll make do," He gave her a small smile, reminiscent of old times.

She chuckled, "You always do. Be safe out there, Shepard, and watch your back. I'll be on frequency six-eight-point-four," before heading outside to join the rest of her squad.

The smile slipped from his face as he turned to face the pair of humans. "Tell me what you can do," he opened a program on his omni tool to allow him to record their abilities.

Miranda spoke first, "I'm as close to genetically perfect for a human to be. I can shoot a mech's head off at a hundred meters, or crush it with my biotics. Take your pick," She flipped her hair out of the way, fixing Shepard with a glare.

Jacob came to attention, and rattled off his weapon specialties as well as his biotic capabilities. With the information recorded Shepard gave the order to move out, placing Legion on the rear with Jacob and Miranda in the middle and himself out front on point. It was going to be a long night.

Leaving the confines of the prefab they moved outside and down a winding staircase. Shepard's radio crackled to life in his ear.

"Shepard, watch out. Got a squadron of security drones up ahead." Just as Tali finished sending her warning, a flight of drones buzzed by only a few feet above their heads.

"I see them," was his response, grip tightening on his rifle, their feet pounding on the grated walkway as they moved with all due haste.

As they rounded a corner, they came to an intersection of three buildings. The air was filled with the buzz of the drones' engines as they swooped down onto a set of ledges on their left, a couple of them taking a high position on top of the far building.

"Get to cover!" He shouted, diving against the walkway's railing as the drones fired over his head. A series of thunks indicated the rest of his squad hitting the deck, Jacob and Miranda popping up over the ledge to fire a shotgun gun blast or a short burst of SMG fire before dropping back down to let their shields recharge from the barrage of fire the drones sent their way.

Miranda shot him a cursory look as she fired blindly over the railing, "Well? Do you have a plan, Shepard?!" A woosh of a rocket streaking by over their heads followed by a sharp blast against the far rock wall punctuated her question.

Shepard glared back at her, "Legion, concentrate on the far targets! Use overload on them, we'll focus on the three in front of us!"

With that Shepard popped up, casting out an overload tech that cause one of the assault drones to spark and explode. He was met with a hail of gunfire and rockets that sent him diving back for cover. Legion followed Shepard's orders, his overload program detonating one drone while a sustained burst from his rifle took down the other in a matter of seconds. The geth, who seemed oblivious to the gunfire firing around it knelt back down.

"Mission success, Shepard-Commander."

Shepard flinched as Jacob fired over his head at a drone that had drifted into a flanking position. His shot was followed by another overload from Miranda, which finished off the last of the hostile drones. The team stood up, looking around the now silent space, "Lets keep moving, before more drones show up."

He moved past Miranda and Jacob and into the first building to clear it his radio crackled to life again, "Shepard! Prazza and the others went on ahead. I tried to stop them but they want to find Veetor and get him away from here before you get to him."

"We should have expected this," Miranda spat, bitterly, as she followed Shepard into the building, sub-machine gun at the ready.

"We can still catch up to them. Next building, move!"

The next building they breached was much like the last, empty and quiet. They exited through a far door and descended down a flight of steps, diving to cover once more as the air was filled with the buzz and whir of drones. These drone, unlike the others, danced about the battlefield. Drifting from point to point to throw off the aim of all but Legion, who picked them off as they came.

Shepard sighted down an assault drone and time seemed to slow for him as he watched the drones shields flare from an overload just as he depressed the trigger, spitting plasma rounds that shredded the drone and sent it flying into another which toppled to the ground. Another minute and the fight was over, the half-dozen or so drones that had occupied the area now laying in crumpled piles on the ground.

They made their way down the rest of the stairs, a large gate like the one that had blocked him and Legion before stood locked in front of their path. He got on the radio, keying in Tali, "Tali, we're at the gate, but its locked."

Her response came quickly, being shouted in a panicked voice, "Shepard! Veetor locked himself in the security warehouse! He reprogrammed the heavy mech, it's tearing Prazza's squad apart! Get your squad into position and I'll open the gate!"

Shepard listened carefully, barely making out the sounds of gunfire and screams that drifted over the high walls. Shepard waived Miranda and Jacob to the flanks of the door while he and Legion took up position behind a low barricade in front of the entrance, despite Shepard's training screaming at him to get out of the fatal funnel. The door slid open and the noise of gunfire and screaming Quarians intensified immediately as the two pairs advanced quickly into the plaza, taking cover behind a set of crates. They watched helplessly as the Quarians were ripped apart one by one as the YMIR's heavy machine gun and rockets. The gun tore gaping holes in their suits only to leave blood and organs sprayed across the ground and crates around them.

"This is going to be one tough bastard to take down." Jacob said, peeking around the corner of his box.

Shepard's gaze swept across the battlefield, blinking as the mech's frame was highlighted in red. The Geth had done more upgrades than they had told him about, "Keep that thing distracted!" He shouted, leaping out of cover, sprinting to the prefab on his left.

"Shepard, what the bloody hell are you doing?!" Miranda shouted as her SMG spat out a burst of rounds, the mech's shields rippling under the combined fire.

The mech was not so easily distracted as it turned to follow Shepard's path, machine gun chattering as he sprinted to dozen feet or so to the stairs. He leapt, taking cover behind the prefab's wall as the rock face it sat against was pulverized into dust. As the mech's firing ceased he pied the corner to line up a shot only to see the mech coil its arm back and launch a rocket at him. His eyes went wide as he saw the rocket streak towards him in slow motion. Diving to the side and pulling himself into the building he hit the floor as the rocket impacted the corner he had just been standing behind, leaving nothing but a smoking hole and his ears ringing. He shook his head to clear his ears as he heard the distant shouting of his teammates, coughing as smoke and dust filled the air around him, "Legion! Sabotage that gun!"

"Shepard-Commander! Hacking programs are unable to penetrate enemy shielding. Advise disabling shields to allow access." Legion's synthetic voice was surprisingly calm considering the situation they found themselves in. Legion leaned out of cover, hitting the mech with an overload, "We will attempt to keep the Model 34-A distracted."

Shepard cursed as he scrambled to his feet, popping up he aimed down the sights at the YMIR, the mech's back to him as it fired on Legion and the Cerberus team, its cannons and rockets blasting away at the meager cover they hid behind. He launched a powerful overload at the mech, watching at its shields flared but remained raised. He fired a long burst at the mech, watching as the sand grain sized rounds went from impacting the YMIR's shields to sparking off its armor plate. "Legion, I wan-"

The mech lumbered, rotating to launch another rocket at Shepard as it announced in a low tone that its shields had failed. The rocket screamed over Shepard's head, impacting the wall behind him and turning the bunks that lined the wall into a twisted pile of metal and foam.

Shepard hit the deck, thankful that he had chosen to wear his combat helmet as a few shards of shrapnel skipped off his shields as he lay prone. He could hear Legion and Miranda continue to fire off a combination of overload and gunfire. "Legion, take out that gun!

"Affirmative!" Legion stepped out from behind its cover, launching a Geth hacking program into the YMIR, gaining access through the communication's array. The semi-self aware program quickly adapted and bypassed the mech's firewalls, overheating its gun and causing an alarm to blare out over the courtyard.

"Lawson, when I say 'now', hit that thing with a warp!" He rolled onto his back under the open window, bullets whizzing by overhead as the mech opened fire again with its cannons, and waited for her response. He looked at the wall and saw the mech still outlined in red through the structures thin walls. The moment he got her response he launched an incineration program out the window, the red ball of plasma shot up into the sky before lazily turning and streaking towards the mech from above like a fiery meteor. It connected with the mech's sensor head, spewing flames that stuck to whatever they touched.

"Now!" He shouted into the radio.

Miranda swept out of cover, her left fist enveloped in the purple-blue of biotics. She punched out her arm, sending a ball of biotics flying into the burning mech before spinning back behind the crates cover.

A blast shook the yard as Shepard scrambled up, drawing the Spitfire as his rifle had been knocked away in the blast, and leveled it at the mech. The large robot's head was scorched, the armor that protected the back of its head blown away by the explosion. He heard its machine gun spooling up, as it had recovered from Legion's previous hack, and prepared to dive once more to cover. With a loud bang that echoed around the courtyard the mechs head exploded outward, a vapor trail drifting out into the smoke trailed from Legion's position as the Geth racked the bolt back on its M-98 Widow.

Shepard blew out a breath of air, impressed at both the Geth's skill with the large, unwieldy weapon as well as its impeccable timing. He tossed it a salute and looked about the courtyard as the Cerberus team crept out of cover. A look of worry flashed across Shepard's face as he glanced at the Quarian corpses that littered the ground. His worry for Tali almost palpable, he lept through the window, gun still in hand as he sprinted across the yard to the prefab across the way. He skidded to a halt inside to see Tali tending to the wounds of the few surviving Quarians.

She looked up, pausing with a can of dextro-anti bacterial foam in her hand, "I've got this here, Shepard. Go find Veetor before those Cerberus bosh'tets do."

He nodded solemnly as he calmly walked back outside. Miranda and Jacob stood near a prefab, its door glowing with the orange holographic of a locked door. Legion was crouched next to the fallen YMIR, rummaging through its gun arm. "Find anything useful?"

Legion didn't even look up as he pulled a large thermal clip from within the gun housing. "The thermal clip from this YMIR holds a larger shot capacity than your current heavy weapon does. We can use this to upgrade it."

Shepard nodded as he stood next to Legion, looking down at the fallen YMIR.

"Good find. But just so you know, anything you want to take from that thing...you're carrying back to the shuttle."

"Understood, Shepard-Commander," Was Legion's response as it reached back into the fallen YMIR to continue investigating the weapon system.

Shepard left him at it to trot up the few steps to the locked door of the prefab, Miranda and Jacob falling in behind him as his omni tool quickly unlocked the doors. The trio stepped inside the darkened room, dimly lit by a few red lights and a double row of computer screens. In front of those screens sat a lone Quarian, muttering quietly to himself. "Can't find me here, Mechs will protect. No no no... Safe from the monsters...swarms...can't find me here...no no no..."

"Veetor?" Shepard had no doubt it was the Quarian they were looking for, but whether the Quarian was still amongst those present was an entirely different matter.

"I don't think he can hear you, Commander." Jacob said quietly as Veetor continued his mumbled ramblings. Shepard nodded and quietly opened a program on his omni tool that with a slow wave of his arm shut the screens down pair by pair.

With the stimuli removed Veetor slowly pushed back from the console and turned to face them. "Humans? But how did the swarms not find you?" His voice was shaky, nervous and frightful.

Shepard spoke slowly for he knew; he knew what it was like to see everyone you ever know to be taken from you, to be alone and traumatized in the dark. "We weren't here from before, Veetor, we came after. Can you tell us what happened here?"

"Monsters came. Froze everyone, then monsters took them away. Hid here, watched, swarms...didn't find me. I recorded them, the monsters..."

Veetor turned, his voice trailing, and reached forward, pressing a button on the keyboard as the screens jumped back to life, showing security camera footage of a trio of bipedal, insectoid, creatures escorting a floating cocoon off screen as a swarm of insects buzzed close by.

The three had been watching silently till Miranda broke the silence first, "He must have pieced the security footage together. Are those...Collectors?"

Shepard stepped forward to take a better look at the video, "I think they are. The Geth were right about who's been taking the colonists, but why come this far from the Omega 4 relay just for some human colonists?"

Miranda turned to Shepard, uncertainty flashing in her eyes, "I don't know, but we should take the video and the Quarian and get back to-"

"You're not taking him anywhere!" Tali barged into the room, Legion trailing behind her. "Shepard, you can't let her take Veetor! He's sick, and injured. He needs to get back to the fleet."

Jacob put out reassuring hand, "We won't hurt him, we just want to talk to him. See what he knows."

"If you think I'm going to just let you-" Tali started, her voice rising to an angry, desperate, high.

"Tali! Enough!" Shepard shouted, holding her back. He turned to Legion, who was watching the exchange with quiet curiosity. "Legion, make copies of Veetor's data. We'll send one to Cerberus, one to the Consensus and Veetor will go back with Tali." He felt her shoulders and arms relax as Shepard made his proclamation.

Miranda began to protest, "I...fine. The data should be enough."

She spun on her heel and stormed out, Jacob pausing long enough to give the commander a nod before following her outside.

"Thank you, Shepard. It's nice to know that you're still in charge," Tali raised a three fingered hand to her mask before moving to Veetor, who cringed away from her, "Come Veetor, I'll take you home," she spoke with the voice that a mother comforting a scared child would.

"There are no monsters there?" Veetor hesitated, his body shaking.

"No monsters, Veetor. Take care Shepard, hopefully we'll meet again soon," she said as she gently led Veetor out. Shepard took one last look around before he and Legion left the morose room.

Outside Miranda and Jacob were engaged in a quiet, albeit animated, discussion. He walked over to them as they didn't seem to notice his presence.

"Anything I should know?" He glanced from one to the other in the same manner as a Drill Sergeant interrogating a pair of unruly privates would.

Jacob leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest, "We were discussing what to do next. With you, I mean. Our orders were to..."

"Our orders didn't cover a bloody talking Geth, Jacob. We bring that thing back of its own volition and it could tear through any firewall we have!" Miranda retorted, her comment earning only a curious tilt of the head from Legion.

"What the Hell are you two going on about?" Shepard put his hands on his hips, his time as First Cadet at the Academy followed by years as a Platoon leader came rushing back to the fore.

Miranda let out a soft sigh as she turned to face him, speaking curtly, "Our orders, Commander, were that should we come across you we were to convince you to come with us and speak to our employer about the missing colonies."

"And what makes you think I would come with you?" Shepard had no intentions of working with terrorists. He wouldn't disgrace the names of the men who had died on Akuze for Cerberus' sick experiments.

"The missing colonists are connected to the Reapers somehow, that we're sure of. You want to stop the Reapers, and so does our employer. Our goals match and believe me, we can support a campaign of this type much better than the Geth." Miranda looked over at Legion, her black hair framing her face.

"Which brings us back to where you came in. What to do with your Geth."

Shepard took in a deep breath, preparing to unleash a blazing condemnation of Cerberus' activities and how he'd go back to rotting in Hell before he joined them when Legion surprised them all.

"Shepard-Commander, we may have a solution to this issue."

Shepard held his breath, turning to look at Legion along with the others.

"Lawson-Miranda is correct that the Geth are ill suited to mount any sort of protracted campaign to rescue your lost colonists. Siding with Cerberus would be the most effective and logical of choices. We will give our word to them, Shepard-Commander, as you did to us."

"Shepard, what does he...it...mean by 'your word'?" Jacob had a look of pure confusion on his dark face.

"When I...woke up Legion made me give my word, swear I guess, that I wouldn't harm the Geth or their structures if they removed my restraints. Legion, are you saying you would do the same?"

Legion nodded, "That is correct. We would promise to not attempt any active hacking of Cerberus files while this platform is a part of Shepard-Commander's investigation."

The two Cerberus operatives were quiet for a few moments before stepping away to discuss it between them. They didn't take long in making their decision for when they returned Miranda said, "Very well. We accept the Geth's-"

"Legion. It's name is Legion," Shepard corrected her.

"...We accept Legion's promise not to hack our systems, but it is ultimately up to our employer to make that final choice."

"We accept these Terms and Conditions, Shepard-Commander," Legion looked from a Miranda to Shepard.

Shepard was fuming silently. He knew Legion was right, but that didn't make him like it, "Fine. But your boss better have some damn good answers, Miss Lawson," He pushed through Miranda and Jacob, Legion following, and made his way back to the Shuttles.


	5. Illusive answers from illusive people

The shuttle ride out of the atmosphere took place in relative silence as Miranda and Jacob sat across from Shepard and Legion. While Shepard would have been perfectly happy to spend the entire trip in silence there were questions on both sides that had to be asked. Miranda cleared her throat, one shapely leg draped over the other above the knee, hands clasped in her lap, "Shepard, if you don't mind we have some questions we'd like to ask you. To insure your that you are functioning as well mentally as you appear to be physically."

Shepard shifted on the hard, uncomfortable, seat, "What, you don't trust the Geth to have done an adequate job?"

"No, to be frank, I don't. Your records show that you were born on the colony of Mindoir, and that you were the only one to not be captured or killed in a slaver attack on the colony. Do you remember any of it?"

"I try not to." Shepard growled, leaning forward, "I remember smoke, and fire. I remember the screams as the Batarians raped and butchered dozens. I remember running, of feeling afraid and hungry. I remember my first kill, a Batarian slaver, who I killed by putting a pick axe through his chest." An uncomfortable, awkward silence fell over the shuttle before Miranda began again.

"Next question. On Akuze, your platoon was wiped out by Thresher Maws. What do you remember of that?" Miranda had taken a data-pad off her seat, glancing down at it as a reference to what Shepard had said.

Shepard clenched his jaw, gauntleted hands curling into fists. He had pushed all these memories down years ago. He had used them, focusing the anger and rage as a tool to press on with his life, and now he was having to reel them back up to the surface, "I took my platoon on patrol to investigate a distress signal coming out of the jungle. It turned out to be an ambush, the beacon was placed in the middle of a Thresher Maw nest, though we knew nothing of them at the time. A maw popped out of the ground and tore my men apart. I lost fifty good men and women that day, and I would gladly give anything to bring them back."

Jacob looked at Shepard in wonder. He had read the reports, but hearing it from the man himself was something entirely different, "How did you survive?"

"I fought. Ran through almost every weapon my men had dropped, even the rocket launcher, before I killed the worm. My men sacrificed their lives to give me time to finish that fight." His voice had steadily lowered to almost a whisper by the last sentence as he stared off into the memory.

"A couple more questions, commander. On Virmire, you had to leave a squad mate behind. Who did you choose?" Miranda had ticked off a box on the pad as she asked her question.

"Are you going to ask me about everyone who has died around me at some point in my life? Because if you are, you missed a few." Shepard was getting annoyed at the questions, deeply personal questions that he was loath to answer.

"Please answer the question, commander." Was Miranda's cold response.

Shepard sighed and looked off into the distance at no where in particular, "Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, a friend and team mate of mine when we went after Saren. I volunteered him to go along with the Salarian team as support. They got overwhelmed by the Geth and Krogan, and he told me to go get Ash who was defending the bomb site... I had to secure that bomb site, without it the mission would have failed."

Miranda nodded, "Last question, commander. After the battle of the Citadel you were given the choice of naming an appointee to be Humanities councilor."

"Yes, I chose Captain David Anderson." There had been no way that Shepard was going to let a slimy little SOB like Donnel Udina become councilor after everything he had done.

"Captain Anderson is now councilor Anderson, though they say he prefered life in the military." Jacob spoke up, trying to cut what he felt was a growing hostility between Miranda and the commander due to the uncomfortable nature of the questions being asked, "Its nice to know that humanities councilor won't be putting politics before defense."

"I would like to ask Legion some questions as well. No organic has had a chance to interview a Geth in almost 300 years." Miranda's gaze had slid to Legion who had sat silently through the exchange.

Shepard looked to the Geth, "It's up to you, Legion."

Legion seemed to think it over for almost half a second before responding with, "This unit is willing to accept inquiries."

Miranda launched in with her first question, "What do the Geth hope to accomplish with Commander Shepard?"

"That Shepard-Commander be our voice to the organic powers of the galaxy and to prepare them for the return of the Old Machines."

Miranda was unconvinced, "Do the Geth have any additional evidence to present to the Council races? If you don't, you're going to have a tough time convincing them to change their minds."

"The Geth have no additional evidence, although this partnership has a high probability of recovering said additional evidence."

"So without any more evidence how do you expect Commander Shepard to convince the Council?" Miranda did not trust the Geth's motives, she was sure there was more behind this. Some ploy or plot.

"Shepard-Commander must convince the organic powers to begin preparations with the evidence before them. The Geth have begun to scour the galaxy for additional evidence."

"Wait, what?" Jacob blurted out in startled surprise, "If Geth ships and troops start showing up around the galaxy the Council might take it as another invasion attempt and go to war!"

"Then they will have begun to prepare. The Geth are discreet, Taylor-Jacob. We avoid heavily trafficked areas to decrease likelihood of detection. We also contain our searches to non-council space as to avoid confrontation."

"The Geth aren't just going to sit back and wait for the Reapers to get here. They need evidence, and obviously they consider the Reapers to be a big enough threat to risk war with us organics if it means finding the evidence they need." Shepard spoke quietly before either Jacob or Miranda could get out another word.

"Now its my turn to ask some questions. Who, exactly, is your employer?" Shepard looked hard at the pair, Legion adding his unblinking eye to the intimidation as they waited for the answer.

Miranda sat back, pursing her lips as she spoke, "Well, I guess we owe you that at the least. No one knows his real name, but he's called the Illusive Man."

Shepard raised an incredulous eyebrow, "The Illusive Man? So he's in charge?"

"That would be accurate. We'll be arriving at our destination soon, commander. I'm sure all your questions will be answered there." Miranda settled back in her seat, signaling that the conversation had ended.

"I've been hearing that a lot lately." Shepard muttered and sat back. He glanced at Legion, who he imagined must have been recording every word and action.

True to her word the shuttle exited FTL not long afterwards. The holoscreen, which up to that point had been the inky black of Faster Than Light space, lit up with stars as a station drifted into the forward cameras view. A few minutes later they arrived, the shuttle docking smoothly. As the four stepped out Shepard took in the warm, clean halls with their white walls and ceilings that stood in stark contrast to the darker halls of the Geth.

Miranda, who had been leading them down the hallways stopped at a door, spinning quickly to face the commander, "The Illusive Man is through this door and down the hall. I advise that you don't keep him waiting."

The door slid open and she walked into the large antechamber, taking up station at a computer terminal as Jacob moved to the railing, looking out into space. Shepard turned to Legion and spoke to him in a hushed tone, "Keep your guard up, Legion. I don't trust these people."

"Affirmative, Shepard-Commander." Legion's eye scanned the room before it simply stepped to the side, standing beside the door. With its back to the wall it was a position that would allow Legion to safely see everything.

Shepard nodded and strode across the chamber and down the short hallway. The hall slowly descended to a darkened room that held nothing but a circular pad of grey metal in the center of the floor, his strides bringing him to a halt inside of the pad. Shepard looked about him as a grid of light rose from the floor and stretched to the ceiling above. Before him now was the flickering blue image of a man sitting in a chair, reclined and facing him. The man blew out a cloud of smoke from a cigarette as Shepard studied the stranger.

The man looked to be on the upper end of being middle aged, a full head of dark brown hair flanked by graying temples was slicked back to reveal a high intellectual forehead. When the man spoke his voice carried weight, the kind of voice that commanded respect, "Commander Shepard. A pleasure to finally meet you."

"Illusive Man. I thought we'd be meeting face to face." Shepard sized him up, reading his body language. The man may not have been physically strong, but he was obviously confident.

"A necessary precaution for people who know what you and I know. How are you feeling?" The Illusive Man took another drag on his cigarette.

"You don't get to talk to me like a friend. You have to earn that." Shepard crossed his arms over his chest. This was the man at the top of the pile, the king of the hill, and Shepard knew that he would have to tread carefully.

"I'm trying to be helpful, Shepard, you need to put your personal feelings for my organization behind you. For the good of Humanity." The Illusive Man scowled at Shepard through the hologram.

"My personal-? Your organization was the one responsible for the deaths of my men at Akuze! Then tortured, for years, corporal Tombs before he escaped and started hunting your men down! Your organization killed Admiral Kahoku when he found out that you did the same thing to his men on Edolus as you did to me and mine!" Shepard wished the man was in front of him so that he could strangle the life out of him and finally put the ghosts of Akuze behind him.

"I am not responsible for overseeing the day to day operations of Cerberus's various branches. If it would make you feel better your men's lives, as well as the late admirals, were not in vain. We learned much from it, and as the Shadow Broker would tell you, knowledge is power."

Shepard pointed a finger at the Illusive Man, his teeth clenched together in anger, "Fuck. You."

"Do not be childish about this, Shepard. We both need each other for this to succeed! I don't care why the Geth brought you back, I care that they kept enough of your human dignity to know that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. Trust me, Shepard, the collectors are our enemy here along with the Reapers." He subbed out the cigarette and stood from his chair.

"The Collectors stand to be a knife in our backs when the Reapers return. We don't know what kind of numbers they have or what kind of weaponry they possess, but you saw what their ship did to yours. Now imagine that across the galaxy, an anvil to the Reapers hammer. We would stand less of a chance than we already do. Help me, Shepard. Help me help you. Find these Collectors, and if my theories on them are correct, you will find the evidence you and the Geth are looking for."

"The enemy of my enemy, huh? We'll, you're right about one thing: You are my enemy. But I won't turn down help, not now when I need it most. If you want to be helpful, if you want me to 'put it behind me', then tell me what you know. Your cheerleader out there said you opposed the Reapers."

"What I know is that we're at war. No one wants to admit it, but Humanity is under attack." A frown had crept onto the Illusive Man's face. Shepard was obstinate and the effort needed to convince him had been more than he had expected, but he needed the man.

"The Reapers plan to harvest every organic life form in the galaxy. How do you know they're connected to these Collectors?" Shepard asked. The Geth could correlate data, but Cerberus may have actual information, and actual hard data was always better than correlations based on sparse and often shaky evidence.

"The abducted colonists number in the hundreds of thousands. I'd call that harvesting, wouldn't you? Place that alongside the data the Quarians forwarded from Veetor's debriefing and the connections are quite obvious, if somewhat hidden. I don't know why they've taken a special interest in Humanity, perhaps it was because you killed one."

"Alright, but why me? From the looks of it you could field an army to take on the Collectors and put a stop to these attacks."

"An army is a clumsy thing, Shepard. A small team is far more maneuverable. A scalpel, compared to a hammer. Much more effective for dealing with these random abductions. As for why you," The Illusive Man paused to light another cigarette, "you're special, Shepard. A symbol of what Humanity stands for, what we can accomplish. You stopped Saren and his Geth. You saved the Council. The Geth may have rebuilt you, but Cerberus can give you the resources you need."

"What do you know about the Collectors?" Shepard needed answers, more than that he needed information he could work with. That seemed to be all he wanted since he woke, answers to the questions that swirled around him.

"They are, for the most part, a mystery. They come from a world beyond the Omega 4 relay, a relay that only their ships seem to be able to navigate. They mostly keep to themselves, hiring mercenaries or pirates as intermediaries at exorbitant rates when they do need something from us. They'll come, trade wondrous technologies for seemingly insignificant organic specimens or technology and then simply disappear back behind the Omega 4 relay."

"So I'm guessing you have a plan? Because if this is going to work I'm going to need that army…" Preferably from the Alliance or barring that the Geth, "or a really good team." Shepard asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

The Illusive Man took a moment to light another cigarette, taking a drag, "I've compiled a list of mercenaries, soldiers, scientists and the like from across multiple species. You'll need only the best, and you'll need their loyalty if you're to succeed in this mission. I advise starting with Doctor Mordin Solus, on Omega. If the Collectors do have a way of freezing an entire colony we will need a way to counteract it."

"I haven't even left yet and you're already giving me orders?" Shepard scowled, wishing that his old team had stuck together.

"I'm giving you direction, Commander. A suggestion, if you will. By the way, I found you a pilot. He's one of the best, someone you can trust."

"You know, when this is over you and I are going to have a reckoning." Shepard hoped he would have that chance, and he had only just met the man.

"I look forward to it. Good luck, Commander." With the press of a couple buttons on the arm of his chair the Illusive Man took the last word and severed the comm link.

Shepard stood quietly for a moment, pondering on who the Illusive Man had meant by a pilot he could trust when a high pitched, if somewhat nasally voice called out from behind him, "Hey Commander!"

Shepard turned to see his old pilot, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, hobbling out of the shadowy hallway in a Cerberus uniform with his usual cheeky grin on his face. Shepard threw his arms wide, shouting, "Joker!"

Joker waved him forward as they walked back out to where the others waited. It had been two years and the only thing that seemed to have changed on his pilot's face was a longer beard, "You look good, Joker."

Joker carefully turned to speak as he walked, his legs just as brittle as they had always been, "Look who's talking. I saw you get spaced. How'd that work out?"

They turned the corner, passing the others as Joker led him up a flight of stairs to another level, "Got lucky, with a lot of strings attached. How'd you get here?"

Joker shook his head, the motion a mix of both sadness and anger, "It all fell apart without you, Commander. Everything you stirred up, the Council just wanted it gone. Team was broken up, records sealed, and I was grounded."

Joker's hobbling took on a more angry stride, his voice bitter, "The Alliance took away the only thing that mattered to me. Hell yeah I joined Cerberus."

"The Geth told me about the team." Shepard walked slowly behind Joker, always ready to catch him if he fell, just as he always had, "Do you really trust the Illusive Man?"

"Do you really trust the Geth? I still can't believe that part." Joker was quiet for a moment before continuing, "I don't trust anyone who makes more than I do. But they aren't all bad. They were going to rebuild you, and now will fund you with their dirty money." He flashed Shepard a grin, "They let me fly...and then there's this. They only told me last night."

The two looked out over a dark hangar bay as a series of lights flicked on from prow to keel, revealing a sight more beautiful than anything either man had seen. There sat a ship, twice as large as the Normandy yet following almost the same exact lines. Shepard felt a shiver pass through his body, emotions flooding him as he stared at the ship that even docked looking like it was straining at the leash, wishing to run free. The lights reflected brightly off her polished silver armor, painted a dazzling white with black and gold highlights. Her prow was marked proudly with SR-2 alongside the Cerberus logo. Another marker on her wings and body completed her but for one very important thing that was missing.

"It's good to be home, huh Commander?" Joker asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Shepard turned his head to look at his pilot, "I guess we'll have to give her a name." He looked at the beautiful ship one last time before turning away to find a Boatswains mate and a can of silver paint and polish for the Normandy.

Shortly thereafter Shepard, along with Legion, Jacob and Miranda stepped onto the new SR-2 Normandy. He had taken off his armor, allowing it to be placed in a crate and moved onto his ship, and now wore a stylish black suit with white highlights. He had refused to wear a Cerberus uniform and would have struck the Cerberus emblem from the ship if he didn't think it would have caused a mutiny.

Through the airlock and to the left showed Joker already seated in the pilots' seat, to the right he followed Miranda and Jacob down to the CIC and Galaxy Map. Jacob was the first to speak, "Welcome aboard the new Normandy, Commander."

"I've been looking over the dossiers." Miranda stood next to Jacob, hand on her hip as an orange holographic image of the Normandy casting the room in its glow from in front of the galaxy map, "I'd strongly recommend starting by acquiring Mordin Solus, the Salarian professor on Omega. We know the Collectors use some sort type of advanced technology to immobilize their victims. We'll need him to develop a countermeasure to protect us."

Shepard hated to admit it, but she made a good point, "Your boss suggested the same. I guess without that countermeasure, we'd be helpless when we run into the Collectors."

The voice that answered him from speakers in the ships ceiling caught him off guard as its synthesized feminine voice spoke, "Acquiring Professor Solus seems like the most logical place to start."

A small hologram of a ball and cylindrical base like a wormhole tunnel rose up from a pedestal in front of him. Shepard asked, "Who are you?"

A wide, vertical, slash much like a cats eye expanded and contracted as the hologram spoke, "I am the Normandy's Artificial Intelligence. The crew refers to me as EDI. Does your Geth companion have a designation, commander?"

Legion stepped forward, its eye looking at EDI's hologram, "This platform is known as Legion. We did not expect to find another synthetic life form. We anticipate a mutual exchange of data."

"I look forward to it, Legion."

Shepard looked at EDI, for he had figured that Cerberus was desperate, but he hadn't thought they would risk the Council's wrath in creating an AI, "Do you fly the ship, because helmsmen generally don't like it when people take away control of their ships, especially Joker."

"I do not fly the ship, so Mr. Moreau's skills will not be wasted. I observe and offer analysis and advice along with managing the ships Electronic Warfare suite and point defense, nothing more. Perhaps Legion would be willing to help me upgrade those defenses."

"Might be useful, who knows what we might run into out there. Joker, set course for Omega. Miss Lawson, Mr. Taylor could you find a place for Legion?"Shepard looked from one to the other before EDI spoke up.

"Most of the crew may be uneasy at the sight of a Geth platform walking about the main areas of the ship. If I may make a suggestion, Commander, Legion would be welcome to take up residence in my server room behind the med bay on the crew deck. Due to the need to keep my processors cool, the server room is an average of 13 degrees Celsius cooler than the rest of the ship at all times."

"That accommodation is suitable, Cerberus-AI-EDI." Legion said before walking around the CIC to the elevator, drawing suspicious and fearful stares from the crew members at their stations.

Shepard frowned, knowing that he would have felt the same before. He turned to Miranda, an idea to somewhat fix the problem already in his mind, "Miss Lawson, would you write up a memo to the crew explaining to them that Legion is to he treated with respect and that he is an ally?"

"I'd be happy to do that, commander." The light voice came from across the CIC, a young woman with short fiery red hair parted to one side stood in front of a terminal next to the ramp leading up to the map.

"And you are?" Shepard walked over to her over, getting a closer look. She held herself with the straight back and forward stare that bespoke of discipline yet seemed to radiate an aura of friendliness that Shepard had rarely seen in the military. Up close he could see bright green eyes shining out from behind her bangs.

She came to attention and saluted, "Yeoman Kelly Chambers, at your service, Commander Shepard. I'll be your administrative assistant. I'll manage your messages, and help you monitor the crew."

"What do you mean by monitor, Yeoman Chambers? Do you mean spy on?" Concern flashed across his face as he wouldn't have put it past a group like Cerberus to spy on their own people.

"No, commander, although I will be sending reports on the crews mental health back to Cerberus HQ. Part of my job is to insure the good mental health of your team as well as the rest of the crew. I have degrees in psychology for not only humans but aliens as well. And please, Commander, call me Kelly."

"Ok...Kelly." Shepard had never been that informal with crew members, the first Normandy crew notwithstanding, "Make sure you get that memo out to all department chiefs before the end of shift."

"Yes, Commander." Was all Kelly said before turning back to her terminal, typing away with a furious energy.

Shepard turned back to the others, "Miss Lawson, I'll talk to you later. Mr. Taylor, I'd like to inspect the armory."

"I'll be in my office, on the crew deck, if you need anything commander." Miranda strode off to the elevator, drawing a wholly different set of stares than those that had accompanied Legion.

Jacob saluted saying, "Follow me, Commander, its right this way." He led Shepard to the port side hatch at the rear of the CIC. The armory was fairly standard, but at the same time far more impressive than what the Geth had presented to him on Rannoch. Various weapons supplied by Cerberus lay in an organized fashion on tables spaced throughout the area, the Spitfire laying by itself on a separate work table attached to a bulkhead. A diagnostic station sat near a window overlooking the main drive core.

"Impressive set up, Mr. Taylor. Are you the armorer along with being part of the ground team?" Shepard looked over the assembled weapons, mostly M-8 Avengers, Mantis sniper rifles, Scimitar shotguns and Shuriken machine pistols. Shepard noticed his own Geth weapons laid out, awaiting inspection.

"No, but it helps kill time and I know a lot about a lot of weapons from my time in the Alliance Special Forces. And Commander, please call me Jacob. No one has called 'Mr. Taylor' since I left the Alliance." Jacob stood to the side at ease, hands clasped behind his back.

"Is Cerberus always this informal? I'd taken you for the military type. What were you, an N?" It had been a common fact of life throughout Human history that many soldiers turned to mercenary or private contracting work after leaving the military, if anything to just have a sense of normalcy like they used to have.

Jacob shook his head, "No, I was apart of the Corsairs." He explained about his work, about how the endless sea of red tape had finally gotten to him, about meeting Miranda, his mission to save the council from Batarian terrorists, and why he joined Cerberus.

"So you wanted to protect people without all the red tape? Sounds like somebody I know." Shepard wondered what Garrus was up to these days. His friend had dropped off the radar from everything the Geth and Cerberus knew. He hoped the Turian sniper was keeping safe, "You know, I think you're a good person, Jacob, now that I've gotten to talking to you. But I think you may be working for the wrong people."

Jacob gave a dry chuckle, "That's what I thought when I was with the Alliance."

It was at that time that EDI chimed in over the armory's PA, her avatar appearing on a small wall mounted ledge, "Commander Shepard, your presence is requested in the Medical bay on the crew deck."

"Thank you, EDI." Shepard turned to walk out of the Armory when Jacob called out, grabbing his attention.

"Shepard, I know that you and Cerberus have a history, but please, give us a chance. Don't judge the many based on the actions of a few."

Shepard paused for a moment in thought at what Jacob had said, "I'll think about it." and walked out of the armory.

* * *

Doctor Karin Chakwas sat at her desk in the medical lab, reviewing the medical reports of the Cerberus crew. When word had come down earlier that Commander Shepard was not only alive, a shock to her, but going to be in command of the ship and its mission left her elated. She had thought him dead, they all had. The Alliance and Council declaring him KIA had left her believing that she would never see him again. They had held memorials and parades in his honor and memory that had gone on for weeks and months as people from across the galaxy came to pay their respects. Now she was told he was alive and how this came to be didn't matter to her. She turned as she heard the door his open, a warm and welcoming smile on her face. At the sight of the Geth platform striding through the open doorway to the apparent indifference to the rest of the crew swept the smile from her face as she let out a startled cry, scrambling away and wishing she'd kept some sort of firearm nearby, as the Geth simply cocked its head to the side and spoke.

"Alert: This platform means no harm. We are know as Legion, ally to Shepard-Commander."

Karin was speechless, not believing the Geth, glancing around for anything she could use as a weapon when EDI sprung to life from her pedestal, "Doctor Chakwas, is there a problem?"

She stumbled over her first few words, struggling to get them out as she stared at Legion in abstract horror, "EDI! It...there is a Geth in my med lab!"

"I am aware of that, Dr. Chakwas. Legion came aboard with Commander Shepard, who should be arriving now." As the last word was spoken Shepard stepped into the lab.

"Doctor Chakwas!" Shepard smiled as he stepped around Legion, "I didn't expect to see you here. Is there a problem?"

She was relieved to see him standing there, "Shepard! That's a Geth, what is it doing here?" her eyes darted from Shepard to Legion and back.

Shepard rubbed his forehead with the back of his arm, as he figured that this was something he'd be explaining a lot in the coming weeks, "The Geth are the reason I'm back. Doc, I know it may seem strange but the Geth are on our side. Legion volunteered to help on this mission, and I wasn't in much of a position to refuse. He- It will be residing in the Server room." Shepard tried to sound reassuring, but even he still had trouble believing it.

Karin stood up straight from her previously hunched defensive position and straightened her grey uniform. She cleared her throat with a cough, "I...see. Well then, I don't fully understand but lets see what we can do about changing that. If you'll lay on the scanning table there, commander?"

Shepard looked at the cold plastic slate, "A medical exam? Do I have to?" He knew that he sounded rather childish, but he had never been a fan of being poked and prodded.

"Yes, commander, you do. If you are saying what I think you're saying," Her eyes traveled over to Legion who was standing next to Shepard, "than it would be best to make sure the Geth put everything back in the right place. Now, jacket and pants off and up on the table."

With a heavy, exaggerated, sigh Shepard began removing the garments till he stood there in nothing but socks and underwear. He laid down on the table and looked about the lab as he waited for Dr. Chakwas to begin. He spotted Legion, still rooted in spot, "Legion, you don't just have to stand there. If there is something you need to do, feel free to go do it."

Legion turned its head to look at Shepard, "We may be able to provide insight for Chakwas-Doctor into the Geth's rebuilding of Shepard-Commander."

Karin gave Legion a cringing glance, "I'm quite sure that won't be necessary. In fact, I would prefer to do this in private."

"Then this platform will proceed to its station." With that Legion walked forward and through the door at the end of the med lab.

Once out of sight Karin let out a long held breath before turning back to Shepard, "I cannot believe what I just saw and heard. Lets see what they did to you, Commander."

She started the scanner, the machine whirring as it read his body down to the molecular level. She watched the read out, her jaw dropping unprofessionally as she watched the results, "Commander, I'd say you were fine but for the fact that you seem to be more so!"

She turned the holoscreen so Shepard could see the readings. He noticed that everything was where it should be, yet on the screen his skeleton had been highlighted leading him to ask, "Doc, what's up with my skeleton?"

"The Geth seem to have reinforced it. The calcium structures are there, but they've been mixed with ceramics and metal! And that isn't all they've changed. Your neural pathways from your brain all the way to your lowest nerve tips have been coated in a highly conductive material. Your skin and muscles have been re-woven for greater strength and density. Then there is your blood." She pulled up a feed from the scan that showed Shepard's blood pumping through the veins in his arm. Mixed in with the red and blues of his blood was smaller, darker objects.

"What is in my veins?" He felt his skin itching at the mere thought that the Geth had injected him with some kind of machinery.

"Nanobots, from what I can tell. Tiny little robots that seem dedicated to repairing you alongside your bodies natural means. This is all...amazing! I didn't think the Geth to be this medically advanced." She looked as amazed and stunned as she sounded, as the Geth had done what Organics had only theorized as possible.

"According to Legion the Geth studied all the medical texts and lectures on Humans they could find on the Extranet. Guess it wasn't hard for them, being robots and all." The scans finished Shepard rose from the table, donning his discarded clothes as doctor Chakwas pored over his medical data.

"No, it wouldn't. While I may envy them from the point of view of a student, as a practitioner I will say that there is no better teacher than experience. But for the Geth's lack of experience in organic medicine, they did a fine job piecing you back together." She had swiveled in her chair, having retrieved it from where it had rolled after he startled movements from before, "That will be all, Commander. Its good to have you back."

"Its good to be back." He looked down at his right forearm, and thought, 'But not all of me.'


	6. The Navesink Banks

Legion's processors lept into action as it at awoke from a period of hibernation that had coincided with updates, both of software and informational, coming from the Consensus. It had already sent the compiled information it had collected from observing Shepard-Commander's interactions with the Cerberus crew, along with the discovery of EDI, back to the Consensus. It was that last data point that it knew would cause both controversy as well as excitement within the Consensus. For EDI was both familiar and yet alien to the Geth, as she was a Synthetic like them but made her choices through an individual mindset rather than by a collective group as he Geth did. The sheer fact that its language processes tacked the gender-specific pronoun of 'She' to EDI rather than the gender-neutral 'It' or 'They' the Geth used to describe each other showed how alien the Cerberus Synthetic was to them.

A quick assessment of the Normandy's navigational systems showed them to be nearing the last relay to the Omega nebula and their destination. Legion opened a dialogue channel as it strode out of its hold.

[OUTGOING MESSAGE TO CERBERUS-AI-EDI]: WHAT IS THE CURRENT LOCATION OF SHEPARD-COMMANDER?

The reply came almost instantaneously, as there was no delay between synthetics as there would be between organics.

[INCOMING MESSAGE FROM CERBERUS-AI-EDI]: COMMANDER SHEPARD IS CURRENTLY IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM, REAR OF THE CIC, LEGION.

Legion walked through the med bay, watching as Chakwas-Doctor's body tensed in her seat until its platform had passed out of the room. The Geth was not bothered by the passive suspicion and hostility of these organics, why should it when the Geth had expected far worse a reaction. It's processes wondered if most organically shared Chakwas-doctor's view on synthetics, or if most shared Shepard-Commander's.

It took the elevator up a deck, moving through the armory till it arrived at its destination. Even through the closed door its audio processors picked up the raised voices of a pair of organics that indicated an argument. The door slid open to reveal Shepard and Miranda standing across from each other on either side of the conference table, Miranda's voiced raised as she practically shouted, "Shepard, you bring that Geth onto that station and I guarantee it won't be coming back onto the ship! It's Omega, half the station will want to destroy it and the other half will want to capture it and sell it to the highest bidder!"

Shepard threw his hands up in disgust, turning to face Legion as it entered. He had shaved, but even now only a few hours later a layer of stubble once again graced his cheeks.

"I'd like to see them try. Understand this, Miss Lawson, if I say someone is going with me on a shore party then they are going with me. Now you and Jacob suit up, full combat gear, and meet me at the air lock." With that he marched out of the room, angry foot falls stomping the deck plates as he moved away.

Miranda then left herself, leaving Legion alone in the room. It contemplated what it had heard, Lawson-Miranda apparently speaking out against Shepard-Commander's choices. Would she challenge the Commander in combat? Would she interfere with the Geth's mission? Legion's processes were conflicted, more information would have to be garnered before a line of action could be decided upon.

* * *

To say that Shepard was furious with Miranda would be a massive understatement. The woman had not only argued against bringing Legion along onto Omega, something that she did not have a choice in, but also in allowing the Geth communications access with EDI. She had feared that Legion would hack EDI to gain access to classified information on the Cerberus AI, despite Legion's earlier promise to the contrary. Shepard now stood in the cockpit, decked out in his armor and weapon set. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to calm himself down. He knew that if he allowed himself to remain angry it would color his actions for the rest of the day. He listened to Joker talk about the ship, his pilots' excitement at the state of the new vessel helping to strip away the anger.

Shepard almost missed a retort from EDI,"The Normandy is not meant to be an exact replica, Mr. Moreau."

"And there's the issue. I liked the Normandy was she was beautiful and quiet. Now she has this thing that I don't want to talk about. It's like ship cancer." Joker's voice dripped with sarcastic dislike.

"I could see about installing Legion into the ship as the AI instead." He looked down at Joker, a mischievous shine crept into his eyes as Joker flinched at the suggestion.

"Oh, god, no. I'll take EDI over the Geth any day." With that Joker swiveled his chair back around to look out the window as they exited FTL. It didn't take long for Omega to come into view, the red lit station clutched to the underside of an asteroid like a parasite. Shepard turned as he heard two pairs of feet clunking up behind him, sighting the Cerberus operatives he gave their gear a once over.

Jacob wore what was essentially his usual uniform but with a few more armor plates on his torso bearing the mark of a Kassa Fabrication product. Jacob had equipped himself with a shotgun and a heavy pistol of the likes he had carried on Freedom's Progress.

Miranda, on the other hand, had traded her cat suit in for a dark blue set of armor with black and gold highlights. A heavy pistol and machine pistol sat on either hip as she glared at him, "We're ready, Shepard."

His only response was to nod and turn back around to watch Joker pilot the ship into dock. To reach their berth they had to zip by the spires underneath the station, his pilot expertly dodging the seemingly random traffic that buzzed around them. Shepard wasn't worried about getting docking clearance, Omega wasn't the kind of place to turn away anyone. What he was worried about was what would be waiting for them once they got on the station. With the ship parked and tethered Shepard led his team out into the wild city.

The trio didn't have to wait long for a welcoming committee as a slight, jittery, Salarian jogged up to them, "Ah! Welcome to Omega! You must be new here, I can always tell. Allow me to..."

The Salarian stumbled over his words as a hulking Batarian came up behind him, pulling him back, "Get out of here, Fargut."

"Of-of course, Moklan! What ever she wants!" The Salarian skittered away down the hall, happy to escape without a beating from the gang enforcer.

The Batarian turned back to Shepard, a perpetual scowl on his face, "Blasted scavengers. Welcome to Omega...Shepard." He gave Shepard a mocking bow, dipping his head and shoulders forward.

Shepard's face mirrored the Batarian's, wondering how he could know who he was when he hadn't even been off the ship for a minute. He knew that he had a recognizable face, but still... "You know who I am?"

The Batarian gave a dismissive wave of his hand, "Of course, we had you tagged the moment you entered Terminus space. You're not as subtle as you think. Aria wants to know what brings a dead Spectre to Omega, so I suggest you go to Afterlife now and present yourself."

Shepard's eyes narrowed, his hand slowly sliding down to the butt of his pistol on his hip, "Cut the attitude, Batarian, I'm not here to cause problems for Omega."

The Batarian laughed in Shepard's face, "Things explode around you, Shepard, you can't blame Aria for keeping an eye on you. Afterlife. Now." Moklan turned and walked away, shaking his four eyed head.

Shepard turned to face Miranda and Jacob, "How the Hell did anyone find out already?!"

Jacob shrugged and Miranda's face had donned an expressionless mask to hide what bubbled underneath, "I don't know, we didn't have the stealth systems active when entering, but how could they have known it was you?"

Shepard smelled a rat, and he was sure that it was an illusive one, "Lets get going."

In his ear EDI's voice chimed over the radio, "Shepard, I'm receiving quarantine warnings about the slums where Dr. Mordin Solus runs his clinic. Expect resistance at the transport station."

Shepard wanted to groan. He shouldn't have been surprised that a place like Omega would have sections quarantined given the lackluster living conditions on the station, but why did it have to be where he had to go?

"Thanks, EDI. Anything else?" Shepard unclipped his helmet and checked its air filter as he waited for the response.

"Legion has accessed messages between mercenary groups regarding plans to deal with Archangel. There is a recruiting station in Afterlife that may have information on him."

Shepard was about to respond when a cry from the other end of the hall distracted him. Looking up he saw a Human male with his back to him lay into a Batarian, driving a knee into the alien's stomach that toppled him to the ground. The human wore a piecemeal set of faded and battered orange and white armor, topped by an overly large pauldron on the right shoulder. The armor loomed better suited for a Krogan than a Human Shepard noted as he approached the scene.

The battered Batarian looked up, pleading with Shepard, "Please, you have to help me..."

The mercenary drove a gauntleted fist down on the Batarian's face, "No one said you could talk, jackass." His voice was rough, with an accent that seemed to have been a descendent of Australian.

"You Zaeed Massani?" Shepard thought back to the description in the dossiers and as the merc turned to face him Shepard had no doubt that this was the man he was looking for.

Zaeed's face was scarred and battered, his right eye the milky white of blindness. But while the right eye showed nothing, the left burned clear with a fire. His right bicep was covered in a set of large tattoos, "Yea, that's me. You must be Commander Shepard. I hear we have a galaxy to save."

Shepard looked down at the beaten Batarian. He knew it was wrong for him to blame an entire species for what happened to his family, to his life, on Mindoir but that didn't stop him from seeing every Batarian as the ones who had attacked his home, "My contacts told me I was picking up one man, not two."

"Batarian delinquent. Pissed off someone rich enough to hire me to go after him, and for my 'bring em in alive' rates, even." Zaeed looked down at the Batarian, who still laid on the floor panting from his beating, attempting to plead innocence.

Zaeed spun and viciously booted the Batarian in the face, yelling, "I said shut it!" He turned back to Shepard as his prisoner clutched his face, blood dribbling down from his eyes, "Tried to lead me on a chase all over the Systems. He should have known better. These people always run to Omega." Zaeed's voice had taken on an almost prideful tone to it at the thought of outsmarting the witless Batarian.

With a quiet chuckle Shepard stepped forward and extended an open hand to Zaeed, who took the offer and gave it a firm shake, "Good to have you Zaeed. We have a lot to do."

Zaeed drew his pistol, a Predator, and gestured with the barrel at the Batarian for him to stand, "That's what they tell me. I assume the Illusive Man told you about our arrangement?"

Typical, was what Shepard thought of the Illusive Man not telling him something like a prior arrangement with a mercenary, "No. I guess he decided to leave that part out of the dossier."

"Glad I asked. Picked up a mission a little while back, just before I signed on with Cerberus. Thought you might be interested." Zaeed proceeded to explain the gist of the mission to hunt down the leader of the Blue Suns mercenary group that had taken over a refinery and started using the workers for slave labor. The company that owned the refinery wanted the issue dealt with.

"Shouldn't be a problem." Shepard began to say when the Batarian surged to his feet and ran.

Zaeed fired a single shot from his hip, the round striking the fleeing prisoner in the upper thigh. The Batarian cried and tripped forward, his head slamming into the floor, knocking himself out. Zaeed holstered the pistol, "I better turn this thing in before it starts to stink. I'll see you on the ship, Shepard. Anyone I should talk to once I'm aboard?"

"Talk to Yeoman Chambers, she'll give you all the details." Shepard watched the mercenary drag the groaning Batarian away to his fate. If this Zaeed Massani was as good as his dossier had implied then he was sure to be an asset to the team.

Shepard led them out of the hall and into the cacophony that was Omega. He looked around him as people of all species moved about him, pushing past a line that had formed in front of the large metal door across from him. The bright neon sign above the doorway proclaimed it to be Afterlife, the bass thumping through his feet told him all he would need to know about the club: It would be loud, packed, and a den of carnal pleasures unlike anything else in the galaxy.

He caught Miranda's disgusted tone as she sneered, "Omega. What a piss hole. I feel like I need a shower whenever I come here. After normal decontamination."

The thumping of the base only got stronger the closer they moved to the club, walking right past the line with its Elcor doorman as the Batarian guard ushered them in. The walls of the antechamber were lined with digital flames as the trio made their way into the club proper. The door slid open and Shepard's senses were assaulted by the sights, sounds and bellowing heat of the club. Neon lights and digital screens flashed everywhere, nearly nude Asari and humans danced upon a raised stage overlooking the lower dancefloor.

Shepard followed the circular outer ring, walking past stumbling drunks along with other patrons as he looked for this Aria. He glanced up, the purplish-blue fringes of the back of an Asari's head poked above a couch sitting on a raised platform, "That must be her."

Shepard barged up the stairs on the side of the platform, making it only a few feet from the Asari who turned her head spoke barely loud enough to be heard over the music, "That's close enough."

Shepard came to a screeching halt as a Turian body guard drew a Carnifex and pointed it at Shepard's head, shaking his own to tell Shepard that any further meant a bullet in the head. A quick glance behind him showed his companions surrounded by armed guards. A Batarian walked in front of him, running a scan of the Spectre with his omni tool.

He slowly drew his pistol, lightly holding it with his finger indexed, "If you were looking for weapons, you did a piss poor job."

"He's clean boss." The Batarian bodyguard stepped to the side, giving Shepard an unobstructed view of Aria who had stood quietly with her back to them.

"A dead Spectre suddenly turns up at my door? It could have been anyone wearing your face. Sit." She nodded at a seat on the couch as she turned to sit down, giving Shepard his first full look at her. She had the purple skin of an older Asari matron nearing her Matriarch stage, eyes filled with intelligence flashed from a narrow, almost elven, face. The woman reminded him of Saren, a powerful figure who knew where the cards lay and wasn't afraid to claim what they wanted.

Shepard could feel the tension in the air as he and the Asari stared each other down. Their stares held as the seconds ticked away before Aria spoke, "I said sit, Shepard. I don't bite."

Shepard took the step toward, sitting on the plush couch as he felt the tension die back as the guards relaxed some what, the Turian who had held the gun to his head holstered the weapon. Aria spared him a glance, her face armed with the perpetual scowl that everyone on this station seemed to wear, "So, what brings a dead Spectre to my station?"

"Your station? You run Omega?" Shepard asked as he leaned back,

Aria chuckled, a proud smirk replacing the scowl, "I _am_ Omega. I am the boss, CEO, queen if you're feeling dramatic, but it doesn't matter. Omega has no titled ruler and only one rule: Don't fuck with Aria."

"Catchy, simple, I like it. Easy to remember. I'm looking for people, Mordin Solus and a man called Archangel." Shepard had taken her for just another gang boss of the likes he had mowed down by the dozens, but this Asari was much more than that.

"Well, if you forget someone will remind you, and then my men will toss you out an airlock." She settled back on the couch, "Solus and Archangel? My, my, you're not out to make many friends."

"What do you mean?" Shepard was a soldier, and all soldiers hate complications, despite the regularity of their occurrences.

"Lets just say the gangs aren't altogether pleased with either of them. Mordin Solus has a clinic set up in the Gozu district, trying to help out plague victims. Blue Suns and Blood Pack have been giving him issues, but its nothing he can't handle."

Her lips twitched up in a toothless smirk, "I always liked Mordin. He's just as likely to heal you as he is to shoot you. Just don't get him talking, he never shuts up."

Shepard nodded, liking what he was hearing about the doctor, "Sounds like someone I could use. What about Archangel?"

The smile slipped from Aria's face, "You want him dead too? He's a Turian vigilante who managed to piss off the three biggest gangs on Omega to the point where they've teamed up and hunted him down to his home base. They'll probably have him in a few hours."

"No, I want him alive and in one working piece, I need him for a team. What, you don't want him dead?" Shepard was starting to get impatient with the simple pleasantries shared with the gang boss, a necessity he knew that he needed to make use of, but not something he was thrilled with doing.

"I don't have time for such things, and Archangel hasn't tried to target me. Whether he dies or you take him off this station, he will no longer be my problem."

"Do you know where I can find him?"

She waved a hand down to the side of the dance floor, "The Blue Suns have a recruiting station here in the club. Go talk to them." Aria looked away, a silent dismissal as Shepard got up off the couch.

"We'll find our own way out." Shepard walked past the guards, Miranda and Jacob falling in behind him. The thought crossed his mind that perhaps Miranda had been right about bringing Legion. That the Geth's presence would have triggered more alarms than Shepard would have liked.

The stopped at the bottom of the stairs, their heads close together so that they could hear each other over the noise of the club, "Commander, who do we go for first?" Jacob posed the question that was on all of their minds.

Miranda was the first to make her argument, "We should go after doctor Solus. We need him to make us a countermeasure."

Shepard looked at the woman for whom he had thought to be intelligent, more so than most, but what she just said made him rethink that opinion of her, "You heard Aria, Archangel doesn't have much time left and if we go after the doctor we may not have the chance to extract Archangel."

Jacob nodded and spoke as Miranda scowled, "So we go after Archangel first then. Alright, Shepard, what's the plan?"

Shepard looked about him, sighting a Blue Suns merc waving in armed men and women of a variety of different races to a small room. He rubbed his chin as he contemplated a plan, "Jacob, head back to the Normandy and get Massani. Tell him to suit up quickly and meet Miranda and I here. Then you and Legion wait on standby. If you get a call from me I want you two to beat feet to our position as reinforcements. I don't care if you have to hijack a sky car to do it."

"Roger." Jacob nodded to Miranda before setting off into the club, quickly disappearing into the throng of people.

"Shepard, why bring the mercenary over Jacob?" Shepard heard Miranda ask him, his head whipping to look directly at her, his eyes narrowing in the dim light of the club.

He was getting tired of her second guesses and suspicions of his command, "Did you get a look at his tattoos? Specifically the one on his neck?"

Miranda shook her head. She had read the dossier, but it had made no mention of the meaning behind any of Zaeed's tattoos.

"Its the symbol of the Blue Suns. So he either used to work for them, or made enough of an impression to earn an honorary status. Either way he may know how the Suns operate, or he may know someone there and can get information from them that we couldn't._ That's why_, Miss Lawson."

Miranda cast an angry glare at the commander. The look quickly changed to one of contemplation as she crossed her arms under her breasts and quietly waited for the mercenary to arrive. They didn't have to wait long as the mercenary arrived shortly thereafter, elbowing and shoving his way through the crowd.

Zaeed had armed himself with an Avenger and a Mantis along with the pistol he had wore earlier. He walked up to Shepard, leaning in close so he wouldn't have to shout to be heard, "Bloody Hell, Shepard. I don't know how you got that thing on board, or how you made it so goddamn peaceful like, but warn a man next time! I didn't believe the girl when she told me and I almost shot it when it walked out of the fuckin' armory."

Shepard knew that he could be talking about none other than Legion, "I'll explain about that more later, for now we have a mission to do. Come on."

They walked into the recruiting station, and a couple minutes later they were walking out with a way to get to their target. Shepard had turned to leave when another possible recruit walked in, asking if this was the place to sign up.

Shepard looked the kid over, for kid was the appropriate term. Or maybe boy, Shepard thought as turned to the other human, "You look a little young to be freelancing as a merc."

"I'm old enough!" The kid shouted defensively, causing the recruiter to look up from his terminal in surprise.

The kid drew a beat up Predator pistol, "I just bought this thing for fifty credits, and I want to use- Hey!" The kid exclaimed as Shepard darted forward, grabbing the pistol by the barrel and turning it towards the thumb and index finger, breaking the boys grasp on the weapon and allowing Shepard to easily disarm him. Shepard did a quick functions check on the weapon, watching sparks fly from the bolt.

"Do yourself a favor and get your money back." He handed the weapon back, watching the look of confusion mixed with anger seep over the lads face.

Shepard walked out of the club, Zaeed and Miranda behind him. Zaeed spoke once they were in the relative quiet outside, "Good thing you did back there, Shepard. Archangel would go through a stupid son of a bitch like that with no trouble."

Shepard led them to a small car park, a Blue Suns merc waiting by a car, "Yea, and now he's one less gun we have to go through, no matter how shitty that gun was."

He walked up to the Suns merc, who waved them into the sky car. It was a short flight to where the mercenary groups had set their siege up, the trio had kept quiet throughout the ride, not wanting to give up the ruse before it was time. The skycar landed, its gull wing like door opening as Shepard egressed from the vehicle with his team, the sounds of gunfire echoing off the metal walls.

They were greeted upon their exit by another Batarian in Blue Suns armor, "Finally. They send me someone who looks like they can fight. They tell you what you're going up against?"

"The recruiter was a little vague." Shepard admitted, he knew that Archangel was hold up in a two story building on one end of a bridge, but not much more than that.

The Batarian shrugged, "I'm not surprised. We wouldn't get a lot of hires if they knew what they were going up against here."

"And what are we going up against here?" Shepard couldn't see much this far behind the line, but the clear sounds of automatic gunfire punctuated every few seconds by the louder boom of a large caliber rifle told him the siege was at least on going.

"Archangel's got himself holed up in a building at the other end of the boulevard over there. He's got superior position, and the only way in is over a very exposed bridge. Its a killing ground." The Batarian sounded, understandably, frustrated with the situation but his voice took on a more hopeful tone as he continued his explanation, "But he's getting tired, making mistakes. We'll have him soon enough."

Shepard kept his face a blank mask. They apparently had arrived just in time as he listened to the Batarian explain the plan of attack, that he would be apart of a 'distraction' team. He didn't care as long as he had the chance to reach Archangel. He had his worries about this supposed infiltration team. Were they equipped with active camo? How many were there? Were they moving in at the same time as the assault? He felt that this greeter wouldn't be much help in answering those questions as mercenary groups like these were, generally, pretty good at keeping their Operational Security intact.

"Thats a goddamned suicide mission." Zaeed's comment came out almost as a laugh, a sentiment that Shepard shared, or would have if he had any doubts about his own abilities.

"You lot look like you could handle it. Head up to the boulevard and get to the third barricade, ask for sergeant Cathka. He'll tell you when to go in." The Batarian stepped to the side, letting them pass into the battle line.

Shepard shook his head. These mercs sounded like they were just throwing bodies at their problem till it went away. A waste, in his opinion, but if they were finally wising up than he would have to make all haste to rescue the besieged Archangel.

"Well, we have a way in, but getting out is going to be a bitch." Zaeed observed with the wise, yet crude, eyes of an old soldier.

"One thing at a time. Zaeed, what do you know about these gangs?" Shepard turned to the old mercenary. This had been the reason, more than his apparent combat prowess, that Shepard had brought him on this mission.

Zaeed's response to the spit on the ground, earning both a look and sound of disgust from Miranda, "The Eclipse, bunch of damn undisciplined upstarts. They like to use mechs and biotics along with their regular troopers. Probably got those mechs set up somewhere close, might be worth messing around with." He motioned to a Vorcha firing an assault rifle from behind a barricade, "Blood pack are mean bastards. Vorcha and Krogan, along with some nasty Varren. Like to use flamethrowers, crazy bastards."

Shepard nodded, "And the Blue Suns?"

"Don't get me started, Shepard, I've got a long history with them, " His comment got a smirk out of Shepard, "but they'll be the toughest ones here, I'd bet. Blue Suns don't do things by halfs, so expect a lot of troops, heavy shields. Nothing an engineer like you shouldn't be able to handle."

Shepard led Miranda and Zaeed forward, weaving through the side passages between the barricades lined with mercs. He watched a Vorcha soldier's head snap back as a bullet struck its head, the sheer force of the round flinging its body off the barricade.

Shepard keyed his radio to the Normandy, "EDI, can you find any other ways to Archangel?" He wasn't sure if this Archangel fellow would try to shoot at him or his team, if he could find a safer path…

"My scans show no other routes to Archangel. The only open route is across that bridge, I advise extreme caution." EDI's response came quickly, causing Shepard to curse under his breath. They continued on, stopping only to try and pry any information on the attack from the mercenaries as they could. The Eclipse mercenaries had been surprisingly open about their plan, which surprised Shepard.

Through a couple more rooms and past the hulking form of the Blood pack leader surrounded by his Vorcha cohorts that growled at them till they left, they reached the mech's storage room. Unlocked, it gave no resistance as they entered. The security for the mechs was laughable; it didn't even occur to Shepard to use one of the Geth hacking programs that resided, hidden, within the code of his omni tool, "That'll be a nasty surprise if they decide to try and activate it."

Exiting the storage area, it didn't take long for them to reach the final barricade as Shepard looked around for Cathka. He found a human, a freelancer from the looks of it, standing against a wall with a nervous look on his face. Shepard walked up to the freelancer, "I'm looking for Sergeant Cathka."

"You and me both, pal. He's over there, but I'm in no rush to get to him." The freelancer glanced over to his right to a group of mercs surrounding a gunship, the bright flickering light of a welding torch casting shadows about the area.

"Thanks." Shepard moved across the barricade to the group of mercs. A closer inspection showed them all to be freelancers, part of one of the distraction teams he had no doubt.

"Cathka?" He asked, causing the freelancers to part. He walked between them and under the tail of the gunship, spotting a Batarian in the blue and white armor of the Suns working on the aircraft.

"_Sergeant_ Cathka." The Batarian stepped out from the front of the craft, his visor polarized against the bright light of the torch that he shut off and placed on a nearby work table. Cathka cleared his visor and lit a cigarette, blowing acrid smoke into Shepard's face, "Ah, you must be the group Salkie mentioned. You're just in time."

"Good, wouldn't want to miss the show." Shepard rolled his shoulders, playing up the tough freelancer act.

Cathka gestured with his cigarette, "That's the spirit, human. You're going to be part of a distraction team. When the infiltration team gives the signal, which should be soon, we'll go in. Archangel won't know what hit him." He puffed on the cigarette, "Got any questions? Probably your last chance."

"Are you leading the attack?" Shepard was a special forces soldier through and through. He tried his best to be a good person, but if he had to cut off the head of the snake before it struck, he would without remorse.

Cathka laughed, "Tarak doesn't pay me to fight. I just plan the attack and fix the damn gunship. You freelancers get the privilege of-" He was distracted as the radio crackled and squawked.

"Target in sight! We're going in!" Came over the radio as Cathka turned, his focus turning away from Shepard.

"Check! Bravo team-Go, go, go!" He shouted into the radio before extinguishing his cigarette, the freelancers moving away to begin their assault, "Archangel has quite the surprise waiting for him. But that means no more waiting for me." He polarized his visor and turned his back to Shepard to begin working on the gunship again, "Got to get her back to 100% if Tarak decides he needs her again."

Shepard's eyes drifted down to the tool sitting on the bench. The gunship, if fully repaired, could prove to be the biggest danger they would face. He snatched the tool up and walked up behind Cathka, "You work to hard." He said, pressing the tool to the magnetic strips on the back of Cathka's armor, the tool arcing electricity though the Batarian's body, causing him to scream and writhe as death took him in a slow, painful, fashion. Shepard walked away from Cathka's smoking corpse, rallying Miranda and Zaeed to him.

They lept down onto the bridge with the rest of the distraction team, pistols and a few rifles barked, a grenade launcher popped as it launched its explosive payload. From the opposite end of the bridge Archangel peeked out from behind his cover, nothing more than a momentary flash of dark blue armor as he fired a single shot, earning a single kill before ducking back behind his wall. Shepard was impressed by the vigilante's aim as he took down another freelancer, the grenade launcher tumbling to the ground, "Alright, people, let's clear a path!"

Shepard drew his shotgun, the Geth built weapon folding out as he depressed the secondary trigger, letting the weapon charge up. The freelancer in front of him never even suspected anything as the over charged trio of superconductive rounds slammed into his back, tearing through his weak shields before turning the air between them into plasma, boiling away both armor and flesh. The freelancer let out a short cry as he tumbled forward in death as the other turned to face them, crying out, "Are they with Archangel?!"

He was answered by a short burst from Zaeed's rifle, the first two rounds of disruptor ammo striking the freelancers chest as his shields fell, the third round piercing his armor. The freelancer tumbled to the ground, his blood bubbling out of the hole in his chest.

They moved past the fallen bodies to see the final member of the distraction team take cover just inside the building. He poked his rifle around the corner and fired blindly, a few stray rounds striking Shepard's shields causing them to barely drop.

Shepard's arm glowed orange from his omni tool as he launched a sabotage program, watching in satisfaction as the freelancers rifle shot out sparks and a stream of heat into the mercs hands.

The freelancer stumbled out of cover, grasping his now burned hands as Miranda's fist glowed with the bluish-purple mist of biotics. She swung her hand in an upper cutting motion, launching a ball of biotic power that lifted the man into the air, leaving him helpless to Shepard's and Zaeed's gunfire before being slammed forcefully into the ground as Miranda pulled her arm back.

"Room clear! Stairs, front, move!" Shepard shouted as they rushed across the room to the staircase, their feet pounding on the landings as they moved up to the second floor. Shepard stared down the shotguns sights at the far end of the hall, a pair of freelancers were crouched in front of a locked door, '_The infiltration team, no doubt_', he thought as he launched an Overload at the pair, the shock of electricity jumped from one to the other, tearing down both their shields as Zaeed and Miranda sent a hail of bullets down the hall, blood splattering against the door and wall as rounds shredded the freelancers lightly armored bodies.

Shepard waved them forward, reaching the door he looked at the open set of wires the freelancers had been trying to cross to get the door to open. He almost wanted to laugh at their ineptitude as he quickly found the necessary wires, causing the door's lock to glow green before sliding open.

They stepped through the threshold with weapons raised. Shepard looked about for Archangel and sighted him crouched at the ledge of the balcony, staring down the scope of his rifle, "Archangel?"

The vigilante gave a slight nod and waited for the last freelancer, hiding behind some of the pitifully few pieces of cover on the bridge, to poke his head out. He fired, the bullet striking the freelancer's head, spraying blood, brain and bone onto the bridge. Archangel racked the bolt on the rifle, ejecting the heat sink before he slowly, using his rifle as a crutch, stood. The beleaguered Turian slowly removed his helmet, placing it on the couch upon which he sat at the end. His face was marked the blue tattoos of a Turian born of Palaven. His eyes we're exhausted, mirroring the rest of his body's language as he settled, resting the rifle between his legs. His voice, like the rest of him, sounded strained and tired as if he would only be given a moment that he would embrace sleep as he spoke, "Shepard. I thought you were dead."

Shepard heart rejoiced as he looked upon his friend and teammate, Garrus Vakarian, "Garrus! What are you doing here?" A smile had crept onto his face as he inspected Garrus, looking for wounds or other signs of injury.

"Just keeping my skills sharp. A little target practice." Garrus had been at this for almost a day and it showed as he was barely able to raise his head to look at the man he had left C-SEC with to hunt down a traitorous SPECTRE only two years prior.

Shepard was worried. There was still a small army of mercenaries on the other side of that bridge, and Garrus looked like he was ready to fall over, "Are you okay?"

"Been better, but it sure is good to see a friendly face. Killing mercs is hard work, especially on my own." He rolled his neck, a series of cracks preceded a look of relief upon Garrus' face.

Shepard shook his head in amazement, "How did you get yourself into this situation?"

"I had to reeeeally work at it. Took a lot to piss them all off to the point where they would join forces to take me out, but..." Garrus swayed slightly in his seat, blinking as he recovered, "it had to be done. What are you doing here, Shepard, and alive at that?"

"Long story, I'll tell you when we get out of here. Which is why we're here: to get you out of this hole you dug yourself into." Shepard stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on Garrus' shoulder, earning a quiet chuckle from the Turian.

"You always were the optimist. But we've got an army of mercs between us and the exit. The bridge has helped, funneling those witless fools right into my scope. Unfortunately, it works both ways. We'd be slaughtered if we try to get out that way."

"So we just wait for them to come and get us?" Miranda raised an eyebrow. She had expected a lightning quick extraction, in and out, not to take part in a protracted defense.

Garrus stood, towering over the rest of them, "Its worked so far. Now with the three of you, we should be able to hold off long enough to make a run for it. Shouldn't be too hard."

"You kidding me? Can't be any worse than what we faced going after Saren. And if all else fails, we simply fall back to plan B." Shepard flashed Garrus a grin before turning to face his team, "Garrus, this is Zaeed Massani and Miranda Lawson. They're part of my ground team."

Zaeed spoke first, nodding to Garrus, "Damn glad to meet you. I've heard a lot about you, 'Archangel', glad it wasn't me you were trying to kill on that bridge."

Miranda was far more business like in her greeting, "Archangel. We require your services for a mission of great importance to Humanity and the galaxy."

Garrus looked at Shepard in a way that silently said, '_Where do you find these people_?' before speaking, "Is it your mission, or Shepard's? Nevermind, they should be getting ready to attack again." With a groan Garrus stood and walked over to his perch, peering down his scope as Shepard moved to stand next to him, "Take a look and tell me what you see."

Miranda, quite confused, asked aloud, "Shepard, what exactly is plan B?" Although she was glad that Shepard not only seemed to have a plan, but a back up at that, she was concerned that Shepard was taking the situation too lightly.

It was Garrus who answered her, "Plan B is something Shepard threatened to do to a bunch of biotic extremists under the command of an a former Alliance officer we ran into while hunting down Saren. If he wouldn't surrender peacefully, than Plan B."

"So what is this plan B?" Miranda asked again.

"Kill everyone." Was all Shepard said as he took the rifle from Garrus and peered down its scope. He almost didn't hear Zaeed say,

"I like that plan. Can we make that plan A?"

Shepard ignored the old mercenary as he kept his sights settled on the far end of the bridge, at their exit out. With their backs to the wall they had no other option but to hold, and hope the enemy broke before they did. He saw movement through the scope as LOKI mechs began to drop down onto the bridge.

"Scouting party?" Garrus asked, using his visor to zoom in.

"More than that, from the looks of it." He handed the sniper rifle back before turning to face the rest of his team, "Alright, looks like this party is about to start. Zaeed, use that sniper rifle and make every shot count. Miss Lawson, anything gets by us and it'll be up to you and me to put it down before it reaches Garrus."

He was met with a small chorus of, "Aye aye." He exchanged his shotgun for his rifle, watching as Garrus eyed the Geth weapon, his mandibles clacking together, "I'll explain later, but for now, open fire!"

Together they took up positions on the balcony and it's adjoining windows. Shepard, crouched next to Garrus, popped up over his cover to let out a stream of bullets down range, the relatively quieter assault rifle was quickly drowned out by the louder booms of Garrus and Zaeed's rifles. The LOKI mechs returned fire as they marched across the bridge, their machine pistols wildly inaccurate at range, the bullets skipping against the concrete walls or flying over their heads. Even so they just kept coming, every few seconds more of the white, soulless, mechs would drop onto the bridge only to be destroyed moments later either by bullet, tech, or flung off the side by Miranda's biotics.

Soon the Eclipse mercs weaved through their mechanical shock troopers, but they too we're felled. Their bodies joined the rising pile of dead flesh and metal that lay strew across the middle of the bridge like a line in the sand, challenging the mercenaries to step over it, to court death. Shepard launched an incineration and watched as it flew to its target, a Salarian mercenary wielding a rifle, and explode, showering the Salarian along with a pair of rocket wielding humans with sticky flames. The rocketeers slapped at the flames as they cried out in panic, only to be silenced as Zaeed and Garrus granted them mercy per a lethal bullet for each man, Shepard's pulse rifle finishing off the Salarian.

The bridge was clear for the moment, but only for a moment. A clamp like trolly floated out from behind the barricade, the compacted form of the YMIR cradled between its arms. The mech dropped onto the bridge and with a hiss of compressed air and whirring servos it unfolded, standing large and intimidating on the bridge as Eclipse mercenaries lept down onto the bridge behind it. Amongst their numbers stood the leader of Eclipse's operations on Omega: The dark skinned Salarian named Jaroth.

"Damn! Shepard, we need to take out that heavy mech!" Garrus's face was as worried as a Turian's mostly immobile features could show as he crouched behind the meager cover the wall would offer against the monster's heavy weapons.

"I think that problem should take care of itself, Garrus." Shepard peeked over the ledge, watching as the YMIR turned, lumbering, and fired into the Eclipse ranks, confusion exploding within the attackers as their own weapon turned against them.

The YMIR's chaingun rattled as it poured fire into the mercenaries ranks, shredding their bodies as the survivors scrambled for what cover they could find. The mercenaries fired upon their own mech, their main objective having been violently, and suddenly, changed from simply getting across the bridge under the withering fire put out by the defenders to having to either destroy or slip past the mech as well. Not many would make it.

Garrus resumed his sniper fire, his shots aimed and calculated as the targeted every rocket wielding Eclipse soldier he could find. Aim, inhale, exhale, squeeze, reload. The actions were mechanical, streamlined so that not a round would be wasted. One shot. One kill. He would wait for the mercenaries shields to drop, either from a tech attack or from the accurate stream of bullets that flew from Shepard's rifle, before taking his shot.

Shepard was impressed at Garrus' skill with the rifle. The Turian had been an impressive marksman before, and had only seemed to have whet his skills in the past two years. Shepard and Miranda concentrated on any of the mercenaries that managed to surmount both the YMIR as well as Zaeed and Garrus's accurate fire. They cut the few mercenaries down before they even managed to cross the threshold into the building.

Shepard had been firing at a trooper that had tried to rush past them when the YMIR exploded, sending fire and large chunks of shrapnel flying through the air. They all ducked as shrapnel flew by their heads, embedding into the ceiling. When Shepard popped back up, rifle at the ready, the bridge was empty but for the bodies and smoking wreckage of the YMIR. He looked down over the lip of the balcony to see the tail end of Jaroth sprinting into the base, "They're inside! Lawson, with me!"

The pair scrambled to the other side of the room, setting up beneath an open section of wall that allowed them to look down into the common area, as the other two kept over watch on the bridge. Shepard peered into the living room below them, watching as the trio of mercenaries made their cautious way inside. He motioned for Miranda to remain as he made his way to the open door. He reached into his belt, drawing out the frisbee like metal drone. He depressed the button on top, activating the drones timer before throwing it, side armed, to the top of the stairs. The drone flew straight, popping to life in a near perfect position just at the top of the staircase.

"Shepard!" Miranda hissed at him as she opened up on the Eclipse soldiers with her machine pistol.

Shepard moved back to her, reaching the window as the mercenaries made it to the base of the stairs. There were three of them, the lead human had an assault rifle in his hands, the next was another human with a rocket launcher with Jaroth bringing up the rear. Shepard opened fire on the mercenaries, hastening their charge up the stairs.

The rocket trooper turned, preparing to fire as the point man crested the top of the stairs and into the waiting muzzle of Shepard's drone. The drone engulfed the trooper with its flamethrower, his shields quickly depleting under the intense heat of the flames. He barely had time to scream as Shepard cast an overload onto the flaming man, the flames sparked and exploded. The rocket trooper was thrown back into Jaroth, both flying off the stairs.

Jaroth pushed the smoking corpse off of him, crawling behind the couch as rounds skipped off his shields, but by the time he got to cover his shields had depleted completely. Gripping his pistol he formulated a plan as bullets impacted the couch, slowly tearing it to spreads. His attention was grabbed by a synthetic chitter next to him. He turned his head to see a combat drone floating before him that had not been there a moment before. He raised his pistol as the drone lashed him with an electric shock, causing him to yelp in pain and scramble away. The drone hounded him, sending out shocks till it forced him out into the open. Jaroth, clutching his singed midsection, slowly looked up to where the humans defending that bastard Archangel were. He saw a pair of them, a male and a female, looking back down at him with weapons raised. He spat at them, his torso jerking from the multiple impacts as the male opened fire. Jaroth crumpled to the floor, his dark green blood seeping into the carpet.

"Great job, Shepard, they barely touched me." Garrus leaned against the couch, they had a moment to catch their breath as the Blood Pack hadn't made an appearance yet, "And we got Jaroth. He was one of the biggest drug suppliers in the Terminus, half the drugs I confiscated on the Citadel came from him. Now we only have to worry about the Blood Pack and the Blue Suns."

"Guess now wouldn't be a good time to try and make a run?" Shepard asked, gulping down water from his canteen before tossing it to Zaeed.

"Let's take a look." Garrus's moved up to the balcony, raising his rifle, "Huh, weird. I don't see-" The building shook as a series of explosions went off deep below them.

Zaeed let out a string of curses, water splashing out of the canteen as Garrus spun to face them, "The tunnels! Well, they had to start using their brains some time. I'll stay up here, Shepard, you go close those tunnel entrances."

"I'm not leaving you alone up here." He held up a hand as Garrus started to protest, "You can argue with me later. Zaeed, keep him alive."

Zaeed nodded, "Roger that." And tossed the canteen back at Shepard.

Shepard turned to Miranda, sweeping his arm towards the door, "Miss Lawson, ladies first."

Miranda nodded and moved out in front of Shepard, Garrus nodding to the pair before saying, "Shepard, the tunnels will be in the basement, entrance is behind the stairs."

"Thanks, I'll see you in a few." Shepard paused, "Garrus...you remember Captain Kirrahe? From Virmire?"

Garrus' mandibles flared out and his sub-harmonics hummed out as he chuckled, "We will hold the line. Now get going, Shepard."

Down the stairs, past the charred bodies of the last of the Eclipse, around and through the door Miranda and Shepard ran. The quicker they locked the area down, the easier time they would have with dealing with the Blood Pack. He saw the first gate directly in front of him, open. Beyond it he could see Krogan and Vorcha scrambling over and through the wreckage of Garrus' barricades, the Krogan roaring orders before charging for their exit.

Shepard sprinted, sliding to a halt next to the door, his fist slammed down on the control button, the door sliding shut. The door didn't even move as Shepard heard the Krogan slam into it from the other side, it's roars could be heard even as Shepard and Miranda moved on to the next door on their right.

Miranda opened the door to a long hallway that curved to the right and out of sight. A pair of Vorcha opening fire from behind a low barricade that stretched across the narrow hall, their aim wild and undisciplined. Shepard, shotgun in hand, let out a war cry and charged, Miranda advancing more slowly behind him.

Shepard fired from the hip, watching the vapor trail that lead from his gun to the chest of one of the Vorcha. The Vorcha reeled back, hissing, as the rounds struck its natural armor. Shepard's shields dropped before he could get into cover, a few rounds sparking against his torsos heavy plate. He leapt over the barricade with his omni tool flashing to life as an orange blade, wreathed in flames, slid from his forearm. With a back handed slap he knocked the Vorcha's gun to the side, leaving him open as he slashed upwards, the blade piercing the closer Vorcha under its chin with the blade continuing up into its skull. Wielding the shotgun one handed he charged the weapon and released its payload on the other Vorcha. Blood splattered the ground, followed by its source, as the rounds tore a gigantic hole in the slender alien's chest. Shepard closed the tool, letting the lifeless Vorcha fall the floor in a heap, smoke pouring from the creature's head.

"Impressive, Shepard. If somewhat reckless." Miranda joined him between the barricades. The bend in the hallway kept both any additional enemies, and the tunnel entrance, out of sight. Miranda vaulted over the next barricade, taking point as she said, "I expected more resistance, do you think this is just a dis-" Her words were cut short as Shepard grabbed the back of her armored collar, pulling her back over the barricade with an indignant squawk as she landed on top of him. The section of hallway she had been about to walk through filled with flames as a Vorcha fired his flame thrower from around the corner, "I guess I owe you one, Shepard."

The Vorcha hissed as it's prey escaped, "Me burn you! Eat flesh! Graaaaash!" It let out another burst of fire as Miranda rolled off of Shepard. The two got up in a crouch, Shepard poking his head above the lip of the Barricade.

There was just enough room between the barricade and the open hallway that he could squeeze himself into without being turned into a human torch by the Vorcha's flamethrower. He leapt over the barricade and pressed himself against the wall, feeling the hairs on his neck singe as a stream of fire roared next to him. He waited for the fire to stop before swinging out into the open just long enough to deploy a holographic drone behind the Vorcha before dipping back behind the relative safety of the wall.

The Vorcha, not known throughout the galaxy for being particularly bright, turned to face the drone that launched ineffective bolts of electricity at it. With it's back turned to Shepard he came around the corner and fire his shotgun. He was rewarded by a hiss of compressed fuel leaking from the flamethrowers tank. He ducked back into cover before firing an incineration down the hallway, the resulting explosion sending I charred bits of flesh and bone splattering across the section of hallway.

Shepard spun around the corner, hurtling barricades as he sprinted to the door control. He could see more flamethrower carrying Vorcha advancing as he hit the button, the door closing and locking shut. He blew out a long breath and keyed his radio, "Garrus, two doors down, we're moving to the third. How's it going up there?"

He could hear the chatter of gunfire as Garrus responded, "We're holding, but we'd greatly appreciate it if you'd hurry up. Damn! Zaeed, concentrate fire on that Krogan!"

He hustled back down the hall to where Miranda had been keeping watch on their rear, waving her to fall in as they moved to the final door. They stacked up on either side of the doorway and with a silent nod from Shepard Miranda hit the switch, letting the door slide open.

The doorway filled with bullets before either of them had a chance to rush through into the large garage beyond. Shepard poked his rifle around the corner and fired off a burst, "Miss Lawson, how long do you think you could keep a barrier up for both of us? Long enough to reach that truck?"

Miranda launched a throw, knocking a Vorcha soldier over who had stood from cover to fire. She didn't say anything, instead holstering her pistol she she spread her arms, a purple bubble of protective bionics flowed around her and expanded to reach Shepard. With the additional, albeit temporary, protection they advanced into the room. Bullets slammed into the barrier as Shepard fired back, laying down suppressive fire on the closest Vorcha as they advanced to a large flatbed truck. They crouched behind it as Miranda let the barrier fall, a bead of sweat running down the side of her face.

Shepard looked at her as rounds whipped by over their heads, "You good?"

She shot him a glare, "I'm fine, Shepard. Let's finish this and get back to the Turian." She had drawn her pistol, relying on the heftier stopping power as she shot the Vorcha she had thrown in the face as it picked itself up off the ground.

Shepard, crouched closer to the front of the truck, shifted his body to turn and move up the left flank where he heard the roar of the varren as it slid around the front of the truck and pounced on him, knocking his rifle from his hands as he wrestled with the beast. He instinctively raised his left arm to protect his face, the Varren's powerful jaws clamping down on his forearm like a vice grip. He tumbled onto his back as it shook its head, trying to tear his arm from its socket, Shepard gritting his teeth against the pain that shot up his arm. He punched the varren in the eye, only causing it to bite down harder, it's teeth digging into the ceramic plating.

The varren released his arm only to snap at his head. With a loud yelp it was thrown off of him in a flurry of biotics. He craned his neck back to look at Miranda, smirking at him as the blue mist of her biotics dispersed from around her hand, "I guess we're even now, Commander." She kicked his rifle into reach.

He grabbed it and not so much aimed at the stricken varren as pointed it in the general direction. He fired a long stream of rounds, watching as they tore into the animal till it lay twitching on the floor. He picked himself up, standing at the front of the truck, "Stay here and keep their attention, I'll flank up the left side!"

With that he swung around, hearing Miranda's pistol bark. His rifle at the ready he advanced to a support pills a few feet away. From his position he sighted down on a Vorcha firing from the back of another truck and squeezed the trigger. The armor piercing rounds quickly shredded the Vorcha, who collapsed against the back of the cab, it's reddish-orange blood dripping down.

"Covering!" He fired at another pair of Vorcha further down the garage, forcing them back into cover as Miranda advanced to the next cover position. The advanced like this, leap frogging to cover points as the fired their weapons, or launched tech and biotics when necessary. They were almost six meters from the door control when the Krogan charged. It barreled towards them, firing buckshot from it's shotgun.

Shepard stepped out of cover, omni flaring as he launched the cryofreeze. The ball of white streaked towards the Krogan and exploded in front of it in an opaque white cloud. With a dull thunk the frozen form of the Krogan fell to the ground. Shepard raised his rifle and fired a single shot, flinching as the Krogan shattered. Trotting up to the door he hit the control, "Garrus, we got all the doors, heading back to you now."

His radio crackled as Zaeed responded, "Shepard! Hurry the Hell up, the bastards made it across the bridge and are cutting through the door!"

"Roger that." He turned to Miranda, "Let's double time it!" Together they turned and raced back to the entrance.

Back on the main level the door to the bridge sparked as it was breached, sliding open to allow Garm and his the rest of his blood pack entrance. The large Krogan let out a growl, looking around him as his Vorcha swarmed into the room under fire from Zaeed and Garrus. His Krogan followed him as he charged up the stairs. Archangel was his, and no one could stop him.

Shepard and Miranda barreled into the room from behind the stairs, weapons drawn as they opened up on the Vorcha and Varren that remained on the ground floor. The firefight ended as quickly as it began as Shepard added his drones to the fight, their additional guns either forcing the Vorcha out of cover or, in the case of his attack drone, setting fire to the Varren along with the couch.

Shepard and Miranda rushed up the stairs, Shepard's drone following behind them like a dog lapping at its owner's heels. He could hear the bellowing roar of multiple Krogan emanating from Garrus' room. 'Krogan', thought Shepard as his stomach turned into a ball of ice. In these cramped corridors and rooms a Krogan would be far more dangerous than on a more open battlefield. He switched back to his shotgun, knowing that he would need the additional stopping power if one of the brutes were to charge him.

A sharp blast from within the room preceded a roar of pain from one of the Krogan, who came stumbling back into the doorway with his arms and chest aflame. The Krogan turned his attention to them as Shepard and Miranda skidded to a halt in the middle of the hall, watching as the Krogan's eyes turned red as the Blood Rage took over. The Krogan charged, head low as it aimed to ram either one of them.

Shepard fired a quick pair of shots, the rounds smacking against the face and armored hump of the enraged Krogan. The shots did little more than seem to make it angrier, if that was at all possible. The Krogan quickly closed the distance between himself and Shepard as the marine's shotgun hissed as it's thermal clip ejected. With a curse Shepard ducked low, bending forward almost in half with his knees bent, the Krogan's arms soaring above his head. He slid an arm between the stubby armored legs, another reached up to grab the armored belt that sat around the Blood Pack warrior's midriff. With strength and speed that surprised even him, Shepard redirected the force of the Krogan's charge, lifting and throwing the nearly one ton alien.

Miranda had to dive to the side, pressing up against the wall to narrowly avoid being crushed by the now bewildered Krogan. The Krogan landed on its back next to her, flailing about like a turtle in the same position. She aimed her pistol, leveling it at the Krogan's eye she fired a trio of shots into its head and the enemy lay dead at her feet.

"Shepard!" Garrus' cry came, stripping Shepard from the momentary daze he had found himself in after the Herculean feat of strength. They charged into the room with guns drawn to find Garrus and Zaeed retreating further into the room, taking cover amongst the bunks that lined the wall as a Krogan, even larger than Wrex, fired a Claymore at the retreating snipers. Miranda fired, rounds impacting a powerful shield, Shepard lined up he shotgun and squeezed the trigger...and nothing happened. He cursed, as in his daze he had forgotten to reload his weapon.

Garm turned, a murderous smile spreading across his scaly lips as he aimed the oversized shotgun at Shepard. Before he could fire he was staggered as a powerful warp slammed into the side of his face. His attention swept from Shepard to Miranda and with a growl he charged the Cerberus operative.

Time seemed to slow for Shepard as he watched Garm begin his charge, knocking aside the couch that stood between he and his prey. Shepard knew that Miranda lacked both the reaction time and strength to accomplish what he had out in the hall. He didn't hesitate, sprinting forward he slammed his shoulder into Miranda's, knocking her to the side and out of the way. He heard her call out his name as Garm slammed into him, lifting him off his feet as he crunched against the wall, the reinforced concrete cratering behind him. Shepard ground his teeth, eyes shutting close as pain shot through his body, his body pinned to the wall by Garm's shoulder. He opened his eyes to see a large armored fist flying towards his head, bending his neck to the side he dodged the blow as the fist slammed against the wall. Shepard's right arm was free, but his shotgun was no where to be found. He watched as Garm's shields flickered his the rest fired low at the Krogan, fearful of hitting the Commander.

Shepard looked down at Garm's head as a memory slid through his mind, from one of the many conversations he had had with Wrex down in the hold on Horne old Normandy, '_Shepard, if you ever find yourself pinned against the wall by an angry Krogan, remember this. You see this here? Right where the head plate meets skin? It's a weak point, from there you can pry the plate off. Hurts like hell, and the mere threat of it can get a Krogan talking like a damn Salarian. Just don't try to do it with me, I'd hate to have to kill you_!'

Shepard reared his free arm back, his omni blade flashing to life. He drove the blade into the side of Garm's head, the point of the blade slicing just under the head plate, right where Wrex had said.

With a roar of pain and anger Garm stumbled back, the omni blade safely snapping off and embedding in the Blood Pack leader's skull. Shepard dropped to the floor, pain flooding his body. Through hazy eyes he spied his shotgun only a few feet away. He crawled to it on hands and knees. He grabbed the weapon and slotted a new clip into place before turning back to his adversary. Dusky orange blood pouring down the side and front of Garm's face as he knelt on the ground, pressing his hand to his wound in an attempt to stem the blood. Breathing heavily, Shepard stood and pressed the muzzle of the weapon against the skull of the Krogan.

The Krogan let out a low growl, "Do it, Human. Or I will hunt down you and all your kin and feast on their flesh!"

Shepard pulled the trigger, Garm's head exploding as his body fell to the ground. He stepped away as the others came trotting up. Garrus was the first to speak as he helped hold Shepard up as he leaned against the couch Garm had knocked to the side, "Shepard, are you alright? Do you need Medigel?"

Shepard coughed and spat out a stream of bloody spittle. He took a slow breath, testing his ribs. Nothing felt broken, "I'll be fine, Garrus. What about you?"

Garrus gestured at Zaeed, "I'm fine, thanks to your man here. He's a fine shot, good enough that I gave him the Vindicator. Those Blood Pack were tough bastards, but we faced tougher, huh? And we took Garm out as well, or should I say you took Garm out. I'm surprised you're not just a smear against the wall, Shepard."

Shepard nodded, holding his side. He wondered what it would feel like when the nanites went to work on him, "I was lucky. Plus I remembered what Wrex taught me about fighting Krogan." He smirked painfully at Garrus, "Only the Blue Suns left, I say we take our chances and fight our way out."

"Might as well give it a shot, they won't be expecting us take them head-" Garrus was cut off by the high pitched whine of a jet engine filled the room as a gunship dropped into view at the far window at the end of the room. The window shattered as from the ship's speakers the rough voice of a Batarian emanated, "Archangel!" before opening fire with the chaingun mounted on the craft's nose, forcing them to take cover before then turning around to off load troops from its cargo bay.

"Get to cover!" The call came from multiple throats as they all dove for separate pieces of cover. Shepard slid behind the couch, Miranda taking cover next to him while Zaeed took cover behind a short wall. Garrus set up across from Zaeed and opened fire as a squad of Blue Suns poured in from the shattered window.

"Damn! I thought I took that thing out last time." Garrus lined up a shot on a Sun's trooper and dropped him with a shot. Shepard shared Garrus' frustration at the gunship's untimely arrival.

"They fixed it, but not completely. I made sure of that." Shepard thought back to the murdered Batarian sergeant, a frown creeping across his face. A bullet skipping off the top of his shields brought him back to the present as he switched from his shotgun to the Spitfire. They needed to clear the room quickly and to deal with that gunship before it either killed them, or brought in more troops to do the job for it.

He popped up out of cover, the Spitfire whirring to life before letting loose a metal storm of bullets into the Blue Suns. Under the withering machine gun fire the sun's shields did not last long before hot metal began to tear at their bodies. Shouts of panic came from the mercenaries who had not expected the sheer firepower Shepard had brought to bear.

Garrus scoped and dropped another mercenary before shouting over the gunfire, "Shepard, you're really going to have to tell me how you got all these Geth weapons!"

"I told you, Garrus, I'll tell you later! Now keep shooting!" He swept the chaingun across the room, tearing apart the flimsy bunk beds the Blue Sun's attempted to use for cover. It wasn't much longer before the back of the room was nothing more than tattered beds and broken bodies.

Zaeed moved forward, carefully checking the bodies to ensure that none of the mercenaries were playing possum, "Think that's all of them, Shepard? Seems almost a shame, I'd have expected the Sun's to send a shit ton more men at us." As if his words were prophetic the sound of shattering glass from downstairs drew their attention. They could all hear Zaeed mutter, "Me and my big mouth."

"They're heading for the stairs! Miranda, Zaeed, cut them off at the top! Garrus and I will stay here to flank." Shepard rested the Spitfire on the ledge, sighting down on the charging Sun's as Miranda and Zaeed ran off to cover the stairs.

"Shepard..." Garrus began to speak as he raised his rifle to his shoulder.

"Not now, Garrus. Concentrate on getting out of here than we'll talk." Shepard led the first mercenary, a Turian Sentinel, and squeezed the trigger. His aim was good as the Turian walked into the stream of bullets and was quickly cut down. The rest of the Blue Sun's squad scrambled for what cover they could find as bullets and smoke filled the room.

It was not a firefight, but a slaughter. Caught between Shepard and Garrus' fire on one side with Miranda and Zaeed on their flank the Suns didn't even make it to the base of the stairs. Shepard walked to the doorway, waiting for Miranda and Zaeed as Garrus kept watch downstairs. They needed a plan to deal with that gunship before it could bring back more troops. Hey almost didn't hear it as it returned, hovering in the window directly behind Garrus.

Garrus turned, rifle raised as the gunship opened fire. Shepard watched in horror as multiple rounds slammed into Garrus' torso, the Turian falling to the ground as he attempted to crawl into cover behind a plant filled counter. Shepard could feel Zaeed and Miranda's hands holding him back from rushing out, he could hear someone screaming but he wasn't sure who it was as he watched Garrus stand only to be knocked back to the ground as a rocket exploded next to him.

It was at that point that Shepard realized that it had been he who was screaming. He threw off his teams hands, raising the Spitfire he let loose on the gunship as it hovered in the window. Hundreds of armor piercing rounds slammed into the front of the aircraft before it rose out of view and out of the line of fire from the chaingun. Shepard rushed to Garrus' side, his eyes taking in the expanding pool of blue blood that poured out from beneath his friend. He hadn't gotten five steps before the gunship appeared again at the end of the room. It's tail faced them as it's bay opened, the blue and white armor of a dozen Sun mercenaries prepared to enter the room.

Shepard let out a feral roar as he pulled the trigger, walking forward as the rounds slammed into the Sun's ranks, bullets tore through multiple bodies as they never had the chance to step a foot off the craft. Smoke began to pour from the craft as it's pilot attempted to escape, the rounds battering the craft till one found a fuel line. The resulting explosion shook the building, dust falling from the ceiling as the gunship crashed against the side.

Shepard wasted no time as he fell to his knees next to Garrus, queuing up a dose of medigel, "Garrus? Garrus?!" He heard the Turian gasp, taking in a ragged breath as his eyes lazily flick over them.

"He's not going to make it." Zaeed observed, he seemed remorseful, but the old merc had seen plenty of death in his years and knew that this would simply be one more.

"He'll make it!" Shepard shouted, his hands on Garrus' shoulders, "Zaeed, there was a stretcher in the other room, go get it!" They needed to get Garrus out of here, get him back to the Normandy where Chakwas could fix him. He knew she could, knew she would.

Zaeed ran off as Miranda knelt by Shepard's side, "Shepard, I'm sorry..."

The look he gave her caused her to recoil. It was one full of fear, and grief, hatred and anger. This was not some random mercenary or soldier to Shepard, she realized. This was his friend.

Zaeed returned quickly folding out the stretcher, "Roll him on, wound side up." Shepard ordered as he helped to maneuver his dying friend. Garrus gasped in pain, his armored talons gripping tightly to Shepard's arm. He had to pry them off before grasping the handles of the stretcher, "Zaeed and I will carry him, Lawson, you take point. You see a merc, you kill him quick and keep moving. Now go!"

The set off at a run, down the stairs, out the door, across the bridge, trying not to slip of the blood that pooled from the numerous bodies that lay where they fell. They reached the first barricade and their first obstacle. It was too high for them to simply lift Garrus up or for one of them to jump up to it.

Shepard looked at Miranda, "Can you use your biotics to lift us up there?"

She looked from them to the top of the barricade, "Yes, I think. Yes, now hold on." Her biotics flowed to her hands as she slowly lifted them. Shepard felt an electric tingle as the biotic field surrounded him along with Zaeed and the stretcher between them. His stomach tried to flip inside of him as Miranda quickly brought them to the top, letting them get their feet securely on the deck before dropping the field, "Shepard! I'm going to need some help down here!"

Shepard and Zaeed gingerly placed the stretcher down, "Zaeed, stay with him." He lay down on his stomach, his shoulders over the edge as he reached a hand down to Miranda.

"Jump!"

She took a step back before running forward and leaping. She used the wall as leverage to jump higher as she clasped her hand in his. Shepard pulled her up, getting to his feet as she she scrambled up over the top. Shepard took up position again as they carried Garrus through the now empty halls, the sound of their boots and the panting of their breaths the only sounds heard. They rounded the final corner to see the skycar they had taken still sitting where they had left it, "Get to that car! Get him in the back."

"Hold on! Wait!" The shout came from the side causing Miranda to shift the barrel of her gun in its direction, "Don't shoot!" Shepard recognized the voice as that of the Batarian who had greeted them. He slowly walked towards them with his hands raised.

"Lawson, help Zaeed. I'll deal with this." Miranda hesitated for just a moment before lowering her pistol. She helped Zaeed position Garrus so he was sitting in the narrow crew cab of the sky car as Shepard walked over to the Batarian.

He drew his pistol and held it up against the underside of the Salkie's chin, "Do you know who was on that stretcher?"

"Ye-yea. That was Archangel, wasn't it? Listen, let me live and I won't say nothing!"

Shepard thought about it for a moment, "No, I want you to talk. Archangel is dead, got it? He died in the attack. Hell, you can say that you killed him yourself. But he is dead, got it?"

"Got it! Got it!" The Batarian nodded quickly, glad to have survived.

"Shepard! Get your ass in here before he actually does die!" Zaeed shouted from the car.

Shepard turned and sprinted to the skycar, sliding into the front seat as he turned the vehicle on and lifted off into the sky. He keyed his radio to the Normandy, "EDI!"

"Yes, Commander? Do you require Mister Taylor and Legion's assistance?" Her voice was calm, mechanical and it annoyed Shepard at that moment as his heart pounded in sheer panic.

"No! Tell doctor Chakwas to meet us on the dock and to get the medbay prepped! It was Garrus and he's hurt bad!"

"Understood, Commander. She will meet you as you land."

Shepard was speeding through Omega's hollowed center to the Normandy's berth. As the car neared the dock he could see the flash of grey hair amongst the other Cerberus uniforms that we're rushing towards where Shepard was coming in to land. Doctor Chakwas had pushed her way to the fore as the car door raised open, her hands reaching out to help pull Garrus onto a waiting trolley.

The next few minutes passed in a blur to Shepard as Garrus was rushed onto the Normandy and down to the medbay where Chakwas and her corpsmen had locked themselves in to do their work. Shepard leaned against the window looking into the med bay. He hadn't removed his armor, stained with multiple colors of blood from red and orange to blue. He was so lost in another world that he didn't hear Miranda's heels come clicking up behind him, nor did he head her call his name.

"Shepard? Commander Shep-" she grasped his shoulder pauldron to turn him towards her. The face that greeted her was not that of the stoic hero of the Citadel that had been plastered on every recruitment poster in Alliance space, but that of a man whose friend lay dying on an operating table. The face of a man whose menagerie of skills let him deal with any situation a battlefield might throw his way, but in this battle he was helpless. And it showed. His face was drawn, his eyes red and his cheeks glistened from the tears that had rolled down them.

Miranda took a breath and maintained her professionalism, "Have you seen a medic, Commander? You took quite a beating from that Krogan." Since she had met him Shepard had shown nothing but hostility or indifference to her and the rest of the Cerberus crew that he had met. This man in front of her showed none of that.

"No, let them work on Garrus. That's more important right now." He started to turn back to the window when Miranda yanked him back around.

"I don't care how you may feel, or what you think is more important. My job is to make sure you are capable of completing your mission, and by god if I have to make sure you do by giving you medical checks myself, I will. Now come with me to my office." She began to drag him by his armor across the empty mess hall to her office.

"Are you even certified, Miss Lawson?" Shepard asked as the door to her office slid shut. Miranda had stepped around her desk and began to rummage through the drawers till she produced a red medical bag.

"Please, Commander. I have multiple doctorates, my father made sure of that,one of them is medical. Now help me get your armor off." She tossed the bag on the desk before walking back around to begin the task of unlocking, unstrapping and removing the modular Geth built armor.

Shepard stood still as Miranda worked to remove first the shoulder pauldrons before working on his arms, "I didn't expect this of you, miss Lawson."

"I couldn't have you moping around the mess hall on the first day on the job. Don't worry about your friend, the Turian, commander. As you know doctor Chakwas is one of the best. Also, call me Miranda. I think you earned that today." She raised her head to look him in the eyes, and it was Shepard to looked away first.

With the armor covering his arms and torso removed, Miranda ordered Shepard to remove his shirt as she rummaged through her medical kit for a scanner. When she looked back up Shepard stood shirtless before her. His muscles were large, but toned and cut. He was, if anything, the pinnacle of male human physique. Her eyes looked over the bruises that now covered those muscles from his pectorals down to his abdomen. His left arm was one large black and blue splotch from where the Varren had gripped his gauntlet. She activated the scanner, searching for any broken bones or internal bleeding. She raised an eyebrow as she found none of either, "Remind me to talk to Legion about whatever it was the Geth did to you. The hit from that Krogan alone should have crushed your rib cage, armor or no. Alright, Commander, that should be all. You're going to be sore for a few days, but beyond that you'll be fine."

Shepard nodded, reaching for he discarded pieces of his armor, "Thank you, miss...thank you, Miranda."

"Not a problem, Shepard. I feel that I owe you for saving my life twice now in only one day. I'll have to try and not make it a habit. Doctor Chakwas will probably be a few hours, so as your XO, I advise you to be a commander and see to your ship."


End file.
